Mexican Rose
by knirbenrots
Summary: A case in Mexico goes south and the team comes back to Los Angeles, only to find that the case may hit them closer at home too... Includes the whole team.
1. Chapter 1

_**Mexican Rose – 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'**_

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Disclaimer: As you all know, none of all the characters that appear in this story belong to me, except for one. The NCIS Los Angeles characters are all a result of the creative mind of Shane Brennan and his writing team.

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**Chapter 1**

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || Office of Special Projects || September 13**

The four of them were at the gun range, each in their separate station, practicing. Despite their covered ears, they all looked up, shocked when the sudden sound of heavy machine guns overwhelmed their gunshots.

Behind the glass of the protective doors, Eric Beale held a small gadget, smiled at them and gestured as in Charades 'wanted in ops'!

As he put off his goggles and cleared his gun, Sam shook his head. "He must have a special drawer for each and every sound that comes in handy."

"Killing us softly with his sounds, killing us softly…" Deeks started to sing softly, using Roberta Flack's song.

"It's the only way he knows he can beat us. Well, except when it comes to all those technical stuff and computer programs of course," Callen added.

"It's the proof that he is a creative soul. He might be the person who sneakily works at theatres on stage when he's not around," Kensi said, "although in that case, there would be no time left for surfing."

A grin appeared on Deeks' face. "On stage? Eric? As in Shakespeare you mean? 'Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them'," Deeks recited. As the other three looked at him in unbelief, he tried one more on their way to the operation center. "No? Doesn't ring any bells in here? How about 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'. No? Anyone?"

"A great one to remember," Sam laughed.

How she did it, nobody knew, but as ever Hetty had overheard their discussion. "Perhaps, mister Deeks, you also remember another famous quote of that same great English writer, that says 'Better three hours too soon than a minute too late'. Director Vance will be on screen in only a minute from now, so I suggest you all put on a serious face," the tiny operation manager remarked.

With a single press on a button by Nell, they were indeed just in time to stand in line around the table, watching the large screen.

"Good to see you all in there, good afternoon. As you probably all know, last year's operation 'North Pole' resulted in the arrest of over 30 people that were related to Mexican drug cartels in New Jersey. With that, a large narcotics network that was also responsible for several murders, was taken down. They moved millions of dollars in heroin and cocaine to and from our country."

Director Vance addressed them from the Washington NCIS headquarters on the large screen at the operation center. "We thought we had them all. However, we recently found out there are new ties to our country. To be more precise, it is the Zita cartel, which is, as you all may know, the most violent one there is. This worries our government and we are now starting operation Zorro 3. This will be a joint operation of NCIS, DEA, CIA and homeland security, in which each of the agencies has a different task. Hetty, I trust you will brief you team further from now?"

"Oh, I will do so, Leon," the tiny yet unbreakable operation manager stated, less certain than they were used to hear from her.

"Thank you, Henrietta. And to you all - good luck." On that, director Vance simply cut off the connection.

The team waited to hear what Hetty would come up with. For just a split second, she seemed to hesitate, but then she started to instruct. "As you all heard, operation Zorro 3 will be a joint operation, in which each of the agencies will have a different task. We have reason to believe the cartel now has connections to the Navy Seals in Coronado and Pendleton."

With a soft mumble Deeks interjected "Hence the connection with NCIS".

Scowls from all of his team members and a well-placed yet powerless kick from his partner that came his way.

"If for once, mister Deeks, you had hoped that your cover would be in a navy uniform, I will certainly have to disappoint you again." Stoically, Hetty continued. "Your team is the only one of all the NCIS teams that will be involved. And in Zorro 3, your involvement will not be in Pendleton, nor in any other bases on our own territory." She sighed softly as she watched this team, the A team when it came to NCIS. She knew they would be good at what they were supposed to be doing. Still… Well, she probably felt the right nerves in this case. "Miss Jones, will you continue please?"

From behind her tablet, Nell quickly read and started to explain. "You all will have accreditation documents that say you are a camera crew for NBC Texas. Fake credentials, of course, but with perfect backstopping already in place. You'll be trained later this afternoon by a team of NBC Los Angeles."

Callen stood in his usual position, his bare forearms crossed in front of his chest – the way he easily thought things over. "Camera crew should be okay. Where and when? What will our goal be and why?" He wanted to know.

"You are in there for the festivals that take place in the second half of September, so from the day after tomorrow on, the celebration of Independence Day in Mexico and soon after, when Monterrey celebrates the founding of the city. You are supposed to interview people on the street and in the smaller villages. Eric and I will guide you straight into the belly of the beast – the region of Tamaulipas, from where Los Zitas are known to operate," the young information analyst concluded nearly optimistically.

Their operation manager added "We need your ears and eyes right in the middle of the region, and as miss Jones just explained, we will lead you from here, with help of the information we will get from the other agencies. So… I suggest you start to study some files and carefully look into your cover as well."

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Monterrey, Mexico || two days later**

No matter how careful their covers had been created, how good and deep the backstopping was, things went wrong the moment they set foot in the city of Monterrey.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

Much to Deeks' despair, the team got split up. Last thing he heard when the other pick-up truck drove off, was Kensi who kept repeating 'Sam? Sam? What were they talking about? Where are they taking us, Sam?'

Knowing that with his hands cuffed and four guns aimed at him, there was nothing he could do. So Deeks was quietly looking at their head agent who lie _next to him in the back of the pickup, unconscious, blood seeping out a gash on his head._

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_Thank you for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you so much for all the reviews, favorites and follows so far, woow! Now, what's next?_

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**Mexican Rose 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'**

**Chapter 2**

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

_previously _  
**Los Angeles || Office of Special Projects || September 13**

It had been fun, practicing with a camera, a microphone and a team that was bantering over who should do what, but in the end both Callen and Deeks knew exactly how to handle the technical equipment.

"Always told you Callen, you have a better face for radio", Kensi snorted.

He took the bait with a grin. "Remember I'm famous for being a ghost. You'd never be able to catch that on camera."

"I'm with you, Callen," Deeks smiled, "Different reason though. Just imagine you're in front of the camera - 'A boo is a lot louder than a cheer. If you have 10 people cheering and one person booing, all you hear is the booing'."

"Now don't you tell me those are your own words," Sam glared at the younger detective.

A chuckle of Deeks came his way. "Why, Sam Hanna, do you think I would not be the one to come up with wise words like this?"

"Too sudden, Deeks. We're not used to this kind of wisdom in the team. So?"

"Lance Armstrong it is guys. And Sam? You're absurdly natural on screen. So, be my guest."

Nell had observed the team together with Hetty. "It makes me have to change the paperwork before they leave, Hetty," she said. "I really had thought they would have chosen differently, Deeks and Kensi in front of the camera."

"Never underestimate the power of teamwork, miss Jones. Mixing tasks and trusting your partners, trusting your team is one of the basics in this line of work. They all understand that. And they, on the other hand, will be trusting you and mister Beale to have their backs, whatever may happen." No matter what her young technical operator and intelligence analyst might think, without them, this team of four could not function the way it did without the fifth and sixth member.

Then, Hetty opened the door, clapped her hands and said "Brilliant performances, all of you. Now, I suggest you come back at ops for the last briefing."

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

_previously_**  
Domestic Flight from LAX to SAT**

"Guys, listen. This, ehm, this thing - this problem with beheading I was reading about. You think Eric put it in the wrong files on purpose? I mean, this is not Al Qaida, is it? We're going to visit our civilized neigbors, embrace the culture, inhale traditions, party all night long…" Deeks smiled nervously.

"We'll have your back, buddy," Callen spoke. Despite all possible trouble they might meet, this would be the least he was worried about.

"Great. Thank you, that cheers me up. NOT. Who will have your back then?"

"Scalping. That is what I would be afraid of", Sam said, deadpanned. "But in your case? Nâh. Too much work to detangle your hair first. Remember, our ancient Indian ancestors are related to the Maya's. Scalping, that's what they might do."

"Anything troubling you beforehand, Kenz?" Callen asked, as she was less talkative than they were used to. It was his task as a team leader to smoothen the operation as it came their way and he thought he recognized her ever so steady mood, but wanted confirmation too. She shook her head and smiled "No, why?"

"The girl will have her burritos, what more can she want? Except of course a Mojito with me on a warm beach," Deeks now joked, definitely more relaxed than before. "A mosquito for you, you mean?" Kensi replied.

"A Mojito, Fern. You pronounced it wrongly."

"Nope. Mojito for me, the mosquitos for you. No beaches around, surfer boy. This will be the bush-bush we'll visit, and I took enough DEET to kill all those mosquitos that come near me. And I know DEET is not in your personal equipment bag, Deeks," his partner smiled.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

From San Antonio airport on, Hetty had arranged that a van from NBC Texas was available for them. It took a nearly five-hour drive to reach the hotel that Nell booked for them in the city of Monterrey. Talk was more seriously by now, as they planned their first day of filming in the city. The real thing would obviously happen once they'd enter the Tamaulipas region. At least, that was what they all expected.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Monterrey, Mexico || el Barrio Antiguo**

After a nearly sleepless night that was filled with fireworks and crowded streets, the next morning they were up right in the middle of the festivities that took place because of the 'Aniversario de Independencia', the Mexican Independence day. With their press cards visible on key cords, they started their work from the large square where a long procession started. Streets were bursting with activity, music, parades, processions and carnival, traditional Matlachines performing everywhere – it wasn't that difficult to look at it all through the eyes of a reporter.

"This area, this very neighborhood in the old center of town may probably be the most dangerous in the city of Monterrey," Sam let the viewers and his cameraman, know. "Notwithstanding the scenic facades, inside the buildings and its alleys behind it, every year several kidnappings take place and murders are committed."

Kensi continued "The Barrio Antiguo, the old center, is now known to be exploited by Los Zitas, one of the Mexican cartels that is known not only for smuggling drugs to the United States, but also for extortion, kidnapping and ruthless assassinations."

"Earlier this year, the mayor of Monterrey stimulated unemployed citizens to form a 'civil force', that should scare away the cartels from the center of town. Working for the Civil Force means income, so your kids can attend school normally and above all, you gain respect. The experiment worked out well so far – wherever the Civil Force is active, the neighborhoods feel safer. The Civil Force can be recognized by its blue uniforms and blue pickup trucks." Sam recited.

Deeks lowered his camera. "Now that will do. Enough of this educational voice. Crap, Sam, it sounds as if you're earning a living as a voice-over for a far too slow documentary about a turtle and a snail somewhere in the bush. If you continue I'm afraid I am going to do very stupid things."

A smirk came from the team leader's face as he switched off the microphone. "Now, we all know what that would lead to, don't we? Deeks and stupid things. Certainly something I want to avoid. So, how about a break?"

"Coffee, yes please. And I'm hungry too," Kensi agreed to the suggestion. "We just walked past one of the cutest restaurants I've ever seen."

The bustle seemed to have left the area when the four of them were enjoying their coffees and started planning the second part of this day.

"It's fake, all of our show. Why bother to continue this seriously?" Deeks wanted to know. "I mean, we could—" He did not finish the sentence, because a group of four large man dressed in blue uniforms entered the cantina and one of them exclaimed "Well, if that isn't , Sam Hanna!"

It struck Sam, the others knew when they saw the sudden change in his stance. Seeing Hank Webster, one of his former team of Navy Seals, was certainly not what Sam had expected at all.  
"So… How come you're dressed up as one of the 'Civil Force's", Hank?" Sam questioned. He sensed his team members were feeling uneasy by the fact that somebody from the senior agent's past suddenly surfaced at the place least expected.

"Man, it's a long story, but I'll cut it short," Webster answered. "They needed an experienced leader, so, here I am." It sounded simple, plausible. And yet, hearing it, observing the guy, Callen felt something was off. Gut feeling. He always trusted that.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

Oh, the suggestion had been so right. So was the performance. Once again, Deeks and Callen had taken the camera and the microphone, while Sam and Kensi would be the ones to interview Webster.  
They all arrived at the location that Webster suggested, and concentrating on the fake interview, it was Callen who noticed the small nod of one of Webster's team. Definitely to somebody that must have been behind him and Deeks.

"Sam—" before he could express his worries, Webster shouted to join him and the others in the pickup truck. Sam and Kensi managed to do so.

Only Deeks was aware of the fact that all went really wrong.  
Only Deeks, because before he knew it, Callen was floored by a hit of a barrel of a gun.  
All because Callen had be the only one who sensed something was wrong.  
All because Sam had been recognized.

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_**Your reviews are very welcome!**_

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**A/N ** the names that are used in this chapter and in the next chapters may sound familiar. Of course they may belong to real people and organizations, but it was never my intention to identify whoever in whatever situation. All names used are pure fictional &coincidental!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: NCIS Los Angeles and its characters all belong to CBS and were created by Shane Brennan and his writing team. None of them are owned by me…

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**Mexican Rose**  
**'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'**

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**Chapter 3**

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

How come Callen had felt this coming, Deeks wondered. Sam could or probably should have noticed, or else Kensi, as they must have been facing the heavily armed masked group of men that now kept their guns aimed at them. Completely unnecessary, since he was now already unarmed and handcuffed, and Callen still lay unconscious next to him.  
No matter how easy going Callen could appear if he wanted to, he always seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to being endangered. Like what happened earlier on – only Callen noted something. Too late, or just in time?

Bitterly, Deeks figured out that he and Callen drew the short straw. Sam and Kensi definitely were much better off, now protected by the Civil Force and in a car that had sped off at high speed. On the other hand, those militia-guys could have come to an aid, Deeks reckoned. The pickup truck he was in, took a different turn than the blue one indeed and soon the surroundings changed. After passing through the quiet suburbs of Monterrey, Deeks noticed they now reached a large and dense woodland area. The first damn mosquitoes were already a torment.

"Sam?" Deeks heard Callen's voice croak.  
Deeks shook his head. "He's with Kensi, pal. You and me appear to be on the wrong bus." The poke of one of the machineguns to his shoulder and the snap of its owner 'Silencio!' made Deeks clear that any normal interaction would be unwise for now.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

"Sam? What were they talking about? Where are they taking us, Sam?" Kensi asked. She felt quite overtaken by all that happened so soon. He quickly glanced at Hank Webster and then shook his head, nearly unnoticeable. He didn't have the answers to her questions either, so he asked "Hank, what was that all about?"

"You saw what was going on, didn't you Sam? If you ask me, I'd say it was a group of masked man who tried to kidnap the four of you. Be glad you're alright. Damn, it happens every day. Those cartel guys seem to take over the city. Still, I never have seen it happening this close like I did right now. Man, I'm shaking all over."

"You were never a shaky person, Hank, humbug if you ask me. If you had warned us earlier, the four of you and the four of us would have had the upper hand." There was no reaction to this remark Sam made. The car drove on, soon reaching the city outskirts and onwards to the hilly and bushed countryside beyond it.  
Sam had no intention of asking his former team mate anything else. Yet.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || Office of Special Projects**

"Nothing so far?" Leon Vance asked through the telephone. He did not notice the small shake of the head of the office manager in Los Angeles, but could detect from his side on the phone in Washington that the fact that there were no new developments, nor any daily reports from the team in Mexico so far, worried Hetty Lange. "They will find out more soon, Hetty. You and I know that, and we'll get them in the right place."

"Let's hope so, Leon. I must admit that it does feel weird that there will be no direct contacts. We should be able to follow their whereabouts from here on since the technic team supplied them all four with a watch with GPS Tracking Systems. The moment we choose for them to go further into the Tamaulipas region, we will let Callen know by a short alarm on his watch," Hetty explained.

"I am fully aware, Henrietta, that you do not like to be depending on the information we have to wait for from the other agencies, but both you and your team agreed on that," Vance acknowledged.

"So all we can and have to do is wait indeed." He heard her sigh and understood her genuine care for the team's wellbeing, something they sometimes mistook for her mothering them. "They know, Henrietta, they know that you care. They'll be alright, you know." On that, he hang up.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Dieciocho de Marzo || Mexico**

The pickup truck came to a halt behind one of the houses that seemed to be deserted from the street side, but were definitely lived in.  
It wasn't the four-oh-five in LA, far from that. From what Deeks saw, it was a hamlet of hardly ten separate houses on one of the smallest roads that led through the hills. He estimated there were about twenty men around. "Traerlos Aquí [bring them here]," one of the men that awaited them outside snapped at the masked men. It might be the leader of this group, Deeks reckoned. Like him, most of the men around were dressed in dark grey uniforms, he noticed. No women or children around, just men.

Deeks was yanked from the car, nearly losing his balance with his hands cuffed behind his back.  
Getting up made Callen dizzy and nauseous and he was slower than he thought he might be. The combination of that with the stickiness on his head made him realize he certainly had better times. He was in no condition right now to figure out what happened exactly. Without any protests he followed the other men and Deeks when both of them were lead into one of the simple built houses. Grateful for the fact that he could stop moving he sank slowly to the ground, using the wall behind him as a backing.

Obviously their capturers now did not regard Deeks as a danger to them in here, as they now uncuffed him. Then, they left them alone in what looked like the central living room of this house.

"Hey, partner, 'r you alright?" Deeks asked, although he noticed that Callen was far from good. A short grunt came from the team leader. "Far from that. And I'm not only talking about a headache, Deeks. This is not what was supposed to happen, at least, not from what I remember of our last briefing."

"I counted. There must be over twenty heavily armed guys in here, Callen. This is one of that cartels, I'm pretty sure about that. Crap. What can it be they want from us?"

Callen rubbed his head, hoping it might help to get rid of the aching feeling.

Deeks continued, hoping that talking might help to order all his thoughts and they might come to a conclusion. "Kidnapping a camera crew, journalists. For what? Ransom?"

The smallest nod of his head was enough to make Callen wince in pain. "No ransom. No political statement. Perhaps part of someone's plan we don't know of yet. Perhaps we saw or did something that troubled them. Keep your ears and eyes open, maybe we'll find out."  
He closed his eyes, trying to clear his mind.

"Should have paid more attention at high school," he heard Deeks mumble. "My Spanish is poor."

"Just let me think then," Callen muttered. They clearly missed something, some link that his hurting head did not make. Yet.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || Office of Special Projects**

It was not until now that Eric noticed he had held his breath longer than he imagined he could. Once he finally observed how the GPS codes that he linked to the watches that belonged to Sam and Kensi now were at the same location as the ones of Callen and Deeks, Eric Beale finally breathed out gratefully.

Nell looked up from the digital files on her screen, alarmed by his sounds. "Dzjee, are you okay, Eric?" He smiled at the small redheaded information analyst next to him. "Sure. Had some doubts about where Callen and the others were. They should be alright by now, I think. Although it's not exactly the Hilton where they are staying." Eric showed her the map.

"I thought they'd be leaving town tomorrow," Nell said. "Well, they probably have a good reason for that," she responded before she and Eric continued their work.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Dieciocho de Marzo || Mexico**

The van stopped in what appeared to be a desolate small village and after the driver got out, he and Hank helped out Kensi and Sam. "Hey, Hank, why stop here? What are your plans from here on?" Sam asked. He watched his former buddy.  
The smaller man, wearing his red hair longer than Sam was used to, glanced at the other three men who accompanied them. Then, he sent Sam and Kensi a quick wink.  
"We'll talk about that later, Sam" he answered them, nearly whispering. "Let's go."

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_Thank you for reading. Please review!_


	4. Chapter 4

_So happy with all your reviews, remarks and thoughts about this story. I do hope you like to read this chapter as well._

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_**Mexican Rose 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'**_

**Chapter 4**

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o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Dieciocho de Marzo || Mexico**

The mumbling was too far away for them to understand. Then there was a sound they both recognized – a horse coming closer until it reached its destination and stopped somewhere nearby in the street. Next, a man speaking out loud from a distance. "Ana, hay visitantes en tu casa" [there are visitors at your place].

Footsteps to the door, somebody unlocking it while silently cursing 'mierde', followed by an angry female voice "Porque Jorge, who did you bring in here?"

"Ana, Ana… Por Favor! They were no invitado, not invited. It is not important who they are. This is the best place to keep them and you know that, mi guapa." Callen understood what the man meant. Then, the woman who was called Ana stepped inside. Dressed in a white t-shirt and tight, cream riding pants in black boots, she looked sweaty and smelled like the horse she had been riding. She was loosening her long black hair that she wore in a loose tail. She simply walked passed them, ignored them, leaving somebody else to close the door and lock it again.

"Well, hello and welcome." Deeks obviously wasn't lost for words, not even in a situation like this. "Ana does not seem to be überhappy with our visit, Callen."

There was no reaction from his senior colleague, so Deeks assumed that Callen wasn't in the mood for any of Deeks' witty remarks, nor to tell that he wasn't in for a conversation. Definitely not good. Immediately after Deeks made that conclusion, another car came to a halt. Again, there were people coming to the door.

The man who opened it this time smiled nearly friendly at both men inside and invited two other people to enter. Then, he hardly understood what happened when Sam and Kensi joined their team members, the door shut behind them and was locked once again.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

"Are you sure there's no-one standing outside to hear what we say?" Kensi whispered at Deeks. He shook his head. Meanwhile, Sam was checking the door inside the house. Locked as well. Deeks motioned up with his index finger and quietly remarked "We've got one angry woman upstairs. Having a shower right now."

Sam squatted next to his partner, quietly observing the dilated pupils and the dried blood from what was a gash that would have needed stitches in fact. "Not feeling well I reckon, G?"

"I'm good," Callen weakly protested.

Sam smirked. "But I bet you're not good enough to fight those guys outside? It reminds me of some years ago, when you insisted on infiltrating that militia-group, when we had a stand-off. It's about the same head wound too. It should be cleaned and looked after," he spoke. "Deeks, how long was he out?"

"Can't really tell, but in my humble detective opinion I'd say too long. You saw him going down and he was out at least all the time in Monterrey, till about halfway the bush-bush. And if you ask me – well you just did… his situation is getting worse instead of better."

There was no quirky reaction from Callen to this remarks of Deeks, no protests either. Sam looked around and sighed. It was just them and nothing else in this empty and plain room.

"Now what do we do?" Deeks asked. "Why did that Webster-guy bring you in here?"

Kensi looked at Sam and answered "he did promise to explain. What do you think Sam? Can we trust him?" Instead of answering, he looked up at the slightest noise he heard, gestured at the stairs and door and showed the others to hush.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

First thing that came up with Kensi was that the other woman looked around like an angry black panther: dangerous, caged and lonely, maybe even unpredictable.  
But then Kensi thought, it might be just the way she wánted to look. She was completely dressed in black, a loose pair of trousers combined with a black t-shirt, like the uniformed men outside. Uniformed clothes that mostly hid the feminine curves but in a weird way emphasized them at the same time. The long, loose, wet black hair curled slightly around her face. A straight nose, her mouth perhaps just a bit too wide and with the greenest eyes Kensi had ever seen. No natural beauty but she did have that certain something that made her interesting, Kensi thought. With some different clothes, some make-up and – most important - a nice character, she knew this woman sure would be attractive to men.

As if they were not kept in here against their will, Deeks was talkative as they knew him. "Say Anna, it would be nice if you'd welcome my friends as well."

"Ah no," she said with a sigh that showed both her frustration as her curiosity. "Who lead you to this place? Don't say to me. I know, Xavier, Webster, Sebastian and Ruiz." There was hardly a trace of an accent in her English.  
Ignoring her intention to walk out of the locked room, Sam stood up and stepped right in front of her, saying "My partner here needs some medical attention, Anna."

She had to look up to meet Sam's demanding dark brown eyes. "It is Ana. Not Anna," she corrected. "And I am not a nurse." It sounded nearly arrogant and she was about to turn her back on them.

"Unarmed, really?" Deeks noticed and spoke out. Slowly, the woman turned around and with a slight smirk she commented "I don't need any weapons to harm or kill if I want to, señor. And there is an army out there to assist me. So, back off and let me go".

The three of them stood like that for a few seconds only until Kensi finally spoke "Deeks? Just do what she wants." "Not jealous, are you, Fern?" he tried to joke.

Sam still stood, his arms now folded before his chest, a sign he was not about to step aside. "Now listen up, lady, I said that my partner needs some medical care. And since you are the only one in this house I can ask, I asked. You are not a nurse and neither am I. But if we would have some boiled water, some antibiotic cream, Band-Aids and Tylenol, it would help him to recover."

"And you think I care for his recovery? Porque?" the woman cocked her head, curious now.

"For a ransom? Prison trade? Be used as a guinea pig for new and experimental drugs? Arranged marriages? Living shields? You name it, we get it," Deeks twaddled the way only he could.

She sighed, bit her lower lip and then shot a glance at Callen. "Acuerdo. Just wait." On that she returned to where she came from.

"Do you think she can be trusted?" Kensi whispered.

"Dunno," Deeks reacted.

It took some seconds before Sam shared his thoughts "So far, the only ones I trust are you."

"Wait. Does this mean you don't even trust Hank Webster?" Deeks wanted to know. There was some doubt in the senior agent's eyes before he shook his head.

"I think there's also one of his men," Callen slowly mentioned. "Recognized me. Looked familiar."

"Are you sure about that, G?"

There was just a short confirming 'uhu'. Enough for the talking. The moment he wanted to nod, he was just in time to stop himself from vomiting. Callen just closed his eyes and tried not to move.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

"G. Hey, G?"

How should he stop his partner from yelling, Callen wondered. He slowly opened his eyes, looking straight into unknown, inquisitive eyes in the same color as the jungle they drove through, he fuzzily noted.  
He blinked some times before he focused. Concentrated on what he observed. No make-up. Cat's eyes. Untamed cat. Smelling minty. And something lemony. Fresh.

"That's better" she softly spoke. An accent. Spanish. "Now, pay attention. I will clean your head wound."

He wanted to shake 'no' but was too tired to protest. "It's okay Callen, he heard Kensi say." He closed his eyes. "So you say he has had this before, a ehm, concusión?"

Some far away humming from Sam. Luke-warm water seeping down on his neck, making him shiver. Cool hand. Then a strong hand. Sam. "Take this G." Trying to swallow but he failed. Throwing up. More luke-warm water, soft fresh smell.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

"Looks like he's out," Deeks spoke, his surprise clearly noticeable.

Sam lowered Callen to the pillow and the blanket the woman had taken to the room.

"He should lay still," Ana told them. "He is not out. Sometimes one is exhausted and the body gives in to sleep. He probably will wake up soon, and if he does, give him Paracetamol. It is better for his blood at this stage than Tylenol and it fights headaches too. "

Sam narrowed his eyes. "Not a nurse, huh? Well, you sure know a lot about nursing."

She got up, straightened her shoulders. Her eyes and voice were suddenly colder than before. "Stop asking questions. Now, you take care of this man. I have other things to do." After a single knock on the door, it opened. Ana stepped out and the door was locked again.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

They were quiet for a while. "Still don't trust her but hey, at least she didn't kill Callen," Deeks cheerfully restarted their earlier conversation.

"What was it Callen just said? He thought he recognize somebody?" Sam tried to resume.

"And that somebody recognized him. Something like that indeed," Kensi said. "Now, how come I'm not surprised about that?" She looked at the senior agent, their team leader, who now seemed to do something they had hardly ever seen before: sleep soundly, not disturbed by his team talking. "Do you think she was right, Sam, that he'll wake up soon?"

He shrugged and then chuckled. "Don't know. He's stubborn, so he simply might keep us waiting. On the other hand, if his weary mind wins from his exhausted body, he'll be around ever so soon, probably moaning and groaning so we feel sorry for him, which of course we can't show him."

"Huh. Complicated guy he is." Deeks stated. When he saw how Kensi peeked through a chink in the boarded window, he asked "What do you see, Kenselina?"

"She joined a group of about 10 guys, doing kickboxing or some martial art," she reported. "Looks like she's better than most of these men." Ana had been right, she was great when it came to man-to-man fighting. Perhaps even superior, Kensi thought.

Some of the men who were not joining the training appeared to discuss something important. She saw Hank and the other three men that drove with them to this place, and a man that looked as if he were in charge of everything.

"Ana, we're hungry. Get us something to eat," Hank Webster commanded.

She looked up from where she was and from what she was doing, then replied "I'm not your cook. Ask the other girls."

"They're not around, are they?"

"Do you know where Mercedes, Julia and Maria are, Ana?" the leading man wanted to know.

"They went swimming," her short answer was.

Webster had come closer to her. "So, I am hungry and you can get us a meal."

"You can get it yourself, or wait until they get back. I'm not in here to serve you," she snapped, now face to face with Sam's former team mate. All the others were quiet now, waiting for something to escalate from this point on. "Ana? Do what he wants," the leading man now said.

She just stood there, angry, ready to attack. Then she sighed and said "Jorge, if he stays, I go." She turned away from them, trotted to the house, entered and slammed the door. Once inside, she passed the company of four, kept her jaws clenched and left for the rooms behind the same place.

"If looks could kill, there would be at least six men drop-dead in there," Deeks thought out loud.

Instead of reacting to that, Sam heard Hank Webster say "I still do not trust that woman, Jorge. Now, where were we?"

* * *

_**Thanks for reading.**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Mexican Rose 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'**

Chapter 5

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Dieciocho de Marzo || Mexico**

"Definitely not the best characters to cast on a sequel of 'The little house on the prairie' or 'Happy Days'." As ever, Deeks tried to enlighten the situation, rambling about movies, despite of the fact they weren't in the best situation ever themselves. It had bothered Sam many times, though nowadays he knew it never got the younger detective distracted from his job.

"Are they part of Los Zitas?" Kensi wanted to know. "Because I really would not know and I don't recognize any of them."

"She called one of them 'Jorge' and he looks like a leader. It could be Jorge Rubio. Rubio used to be working for the Gulf Cartel, but now he indeed is one of the Zita-leaders, with one of his brothers," Sam remembered.

The three of them tried to figure out who was responsible for the fact that all four of them were kept in there, still, they did not find out. "So we have Hank Webster, one of Callen's mysterious visitors from the past and who more?" Deeks tried to summarize. "What do you think, should I ask Angry-Ana once more why we're here? She didn't really react to all the possible reasons for it before, did she?"

"Be honest… The reasons you mentioned were, how shall I say, 'out of the box', Deeks," his partner said. "Besides, 'angry Ana' lives in here which means she is loyal to the baddies."

Sam reminded them "Instead of thinking of why we're here, we'd better think of how we can get out of here." Looking at his partner of the last five years, he doubted though if getting away would be an easy thing.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects**

Hetty stood, her small stature motionless and quiet, behind the technical operator and the information analyst who were sharing their thoughts.  
"If I'm right, there should be a sign from Washington when the team can move on to the jungle, right?" Eric asked, more or less to Hetty although he kept looking at Nell.  
It was Nell too who replied. "There only will be a sign to be made if they could move on. We – and so Callen, Sam, Deeks and Kensi too, have to wait for inside information, and based on that information the decision on the go or no-go will be made, am I right, Hetty?" They both swiveled their chairs until they faced the petite office manager, who prudently nodded. "Yes, miss Jones, that is correct. And knowing that we cannot influence anything, our waiting will be just as theirs, which will be patiently. Now, Mr. Beale, the team is still in the same location I presume?" she asked.

Eric got up, took his tablet and opened the map of the region the team was in. "Yep. It is a very small village, a hamlet in fact, called Dieciocho de Marzo, situated south of the city of Monterrey. I really don't know why they decided to stay in there but as we know, we cannot ask them right now. So, we'll wait until they are ready to go." On the large screen, Hetty and Nell watched to where he had followed the four GPS-trackers. Nothing specific.

"It looks so… odd." Eric said. "Such a tiny little village, why stay there?" He mumbled and turned to his computer again. "Hetty, how about taking a sneak peek with the next satellite? The best one above there should be there in—" he concentrated on his screen once again, then continued "Seven hours, 34 minutes from now. I'll have comparative footage then."

She pursed her lips to avoid one of her rare smiles. "The simple fact that you ASKED, mister Beale, implies that you are using a satellite that is not one of ours?"

"How about a Chinese?" he replied with a broad smile.

"Just do it." Was Henrietta Lange's brief answer.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Dieciocho de Marzo || Mexico**

Kensi's backpack was not around, so neither was her DEET and the mosquitoes were already incredibly irritating.

Without talking to each other by now, Kensi tried to listen to what their capturers were saying. Deeks and Sam were once more trying to find out how they might escape, if a possibility rose. The room they were kept in was at the backside of the house, which meant that on the street side the house looked desolated. "Like all," Sam told Deeks. "All houses look like this. So if you'd drive through this village you would not notice that there are people around. I think they have guards somewhere near the road who could warn if any cars would come near."

"Or when they see four unknown persons, formerly known as prisoners, walking away from this place," Deeks added.

Kensi now signed to hush. They were quiet until she herself started talking. "Again, Webster is talking, this time about the Juarez-cartel. One of this guys asked Jorge about the Juarez-woman. And there is something about 'the truck' that they were talking about," she said.

To their surprise, it was Callen who asked "What truck?"

Sam looked around and couldn't help chuckling softly, it was just like he guessed - a combination of stubbornness of his partner and the pure willpower that beat the physical troubles he was going through. "Hey, buddy, good to have you back in here. What truck you ask? We don't know." When he noticed his partner wanted to get up he shook his head. "You'd better stay down and try not to move too much and too soon. Take those", he suggested as he handed Callen a glass of water and the medicine the woman had handed.

"What's this?" Callen wanted to know, not trusting anything he was handed without any say.

"Paracetamol. It should do the same as Tylenol, but it is supposed to be better for your head."

A familiar smirk appeared on the team leader's face. "Now, you're repeating who?"

"Never mind, G, just take it. We might need your brain as well, so clear them, will you?" Sam smiled mildly.

"Guys, there are new kids in town," Deeks said. Both Sam and Kensi joined him, trying to pick up as much as possible from what they heard outside. Discussion was difficult to follow because from one side, three woman arrived, giggling loudly and meanwhile from another side a jeep with four guys who were being welcomed enthusiastically by the group outside as well.

"Juan!" They saw how the man they considered as the leader and who Ana had called Jorge, hugged the other man. "Hey bro", the other man responded with a smile on his face. "Lo hicimos – we did it, we've got el camión", the younger man said.

"Muy bien. I knew you were the best man I have who could manage to get it. Where did you take it?"

"Closeby, on one of the roads near the river. We've camouflaged it, you won't find it, not even you. So nobody else will." There was pride in his voice. "Now Jorge, where is my girl?"

Once again, it was Hank Webster who interfered with the conversation of the other men. "Ana? You should teach her to be kinder to us now she lives in here."

The younger man shrugged when he reacted "It's none of your business, Webster. She is our link to the Juarez'. Besides that, she's mine now, not yours and she doesn't have to please you, no way."  
He turned his back on the others and was about to enter the house when the leader put his hand on his shoulder and talked softer so that the others outside would not hear it. "Juan, Hank is right. She is getting rebellious and even threatened to leave. We cannot risk to lose the Juarez', not now, not anymore. With Ana, you get her familia. Get her to be more obedient." There was no other reaction from the younger man but another shrug. "Oh, and Juan? Be aware, there is a group of four in there. Hostages. Prisioneros."

"Whose, ours?"

"Ours. I need to talk to Ruiz and Webster about what to do with them. They know."

"They don't run our group. They work FOR us, not the other way around, Jorge." On that, he opened the door which was closed behind him. Then, he quickly glanced at the four prisoners who were now sitting next to each other, back to the wall. He simply stepped through the room, taking a key to unlock the door to the staircase and the rest of this house, locked it behind him and yelled "Ana!"

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

There had been a happy voice from the woman, some stumbling noises, his frustrated voice, anger, laughter… In that same period of about half an hour, the four just whispered to each other, because there was a man guarding the back entrance by now.

"The Juarez' is another cartel, nearby," Sam knew. "So Ana is one of them and liaises the Juarez cartel to Los Zitas."

"No love involved, I'd say, if I heard those gentlemen talking," Deeks remarked. "Although… well, I cannot judge what those two are doing upstairs," he concluded with a smile.

"Deeks, yuck, don't!" Kensi yelled, louder than she had done before.

So far, Callen had been quite quiet. Now, he wanted to share some things that bothered him with his team. "This guy was talking about a truck. What would make it so special that it has to be hidden? Could we find out about it? Then there is this guy who was with Webster. Do we have any names?"

"Ruiz and Webster, and I heard Sebastian and Xavier." Kensi remembered. "Does it ring any bells?"

He shook his head, at the same time knowing he should not have done that. "Nothing."

"They were proud of having that truck in here, but why hide it? 'What's in the truck?' I bet they're just as reluctant to answer as my lovely partner who won't answer me when I ask her 'what's in the box'… Which means we should find the truck ourselves," Deeks thought.

"Sure Marty," Sam shook his head. Clearly, the younger detective spoke too soon, like he did quite often. Before any of them could comment more, the couple that had been upstairs before now re-entered the room. It was the man who locked the door. In that same time, Ana turned to Callen, her genuinely concerned eyes quickly scanning his head, then locking on his oceanic eyes. "Bien, that looks much better," she said.

"Ana, ven aquí," the man demanded.

"Un momento, Juan," she answered.

"Never mind them. They'll be dead soon", the man said as he dragged her away and started kissing her. "No, Juan, stop. Not in here," she hissed as she managed to escape his grip, knocked twice on the door which then opened. Ana Juarez quickly stepped out, followed by her lover, leaving the team to think about that last remark.

* * *

A/N the names that are used in these chapters may sound familiar. Of course they could belong to real people and organizations, but it was never my intention to identify whoever in whatever situation. All names used are pure fictional &coincidental.  
Except those of the original NCIS Los Angeles series of course: they were made up by Shane Brennan [grateful for that]


	6. Chapter 6

**Mexican Rose 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'**

**Chapter 6**

* * *

**Disclaimer:** none of the original NCIS Los Angeles characters are mine, they belong to Shane Brennan who came up with this great and wonderful series!

* * *

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects**

Eric leaned back on his chair as he watched how the program he had just installed, now drew a map of the latest satellite pictures and put several dots on where heat sensors indicated where people were.

"So many dots," Nell said, looking at his screen. "Not exactly what you would expect in such a small village, I'd say."

He agreed. "It is not a tourist area. I counted 13 houses at the most in there. Maybe our team joined a group already and moved on befóre they got the sign to do so. To be honest, that is what I think of what Callen and the others might have done. One of those inimitable plans Callen plots," he said. He continued softer "Now thát would definitely piss off Hetty and Director Vance."

"Anything you want to share, Mr. Beale?"  
He should have known it. It was always like this, Eric knew. The woman must have a sixth sense for awkward situations like this and with her quiet way of moving around – the Ninja-way, they called it - she always surprised him and the others, by suddenly just being there. "Ehm… As I was saying maybe the team already moved on without noticing us, noticing you. Which—well, which would not be impossible because they cannot contact us, can they?" He knew he reddened so he kept looking at the screens.

"How many time left before we have the next series of satellite footage reaches us?" Hetty now asked.

Eric switched to another screen. "Four hours, six seconds. Time flies," he said.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Dieciocho de Marzo || Mexico**

Deeks watched how Kensi had rested her head against Callen's shoulder and Callen had put his arm around her. They'd both fallen asleep like that. Weird. Callen hardly slept, they were all aware of that, and although Deeks worked with him for some years already, he had never seen the team leader like this with a woman before, nor heard any talk about Callen's love life, if there was any.  
Still, Deeks did not feel the slightest bit of jealousy when he saw how the woman he fancied had cuddled up to Callen's side. It was more like a 'big brother with sweet little sister' when it came to these two teammates. Meanwhile, Sam simply had rolled up on the bare floor, as if he never was used to sleeping differently than this.

Marty Deeks had agreed to take the first watch. With the remarks of Juan Rubio in mind, they did not know what to expect. Outside, it looked like this group had a good time. Some younger women joined the men, there were now more around than earlier. Maybe – or, he thought, probably - they were paid to please the men. He did not know and he did not care.  
Being on watch sounded good, but not in the situation they were in. In fact, Deeks knew there was nothing he could do if anyone would come in.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects, nearly two hours later**

Sure, it was her task to analyze all kinds of information that passed their systems, especially if it was on the territory of NCIS. Or, like right now, if it was or could be case-related.  
So, when several news sites came up with the fact that a truck with nuclear waste which was on its way from Tijuana to Mexico-City, had been intercepted and disappeared, it triggered Nell. When she took a map of the area where this truck had last been seen, it was more than being triggered.  
"Eric, what do you know about nuclear waste?" she asked her partner, alarmed.

"Nuclear waste," he repeated, "Ehm. Well, there are different kinds but the most common is cobalt-60. Is that what you're talking about,?"

"Yep," was all she said.

"Nasty stuff, this cobalt-60. You wouldn't want to examine it without any protective gear, that's one. It's highly radioactive and contagious. Another worrying thing is that it can be used for 'dirty bombs'. It's different though from the stuff Sidorov wanted to sell. Why are you asking?" he wanted to know.

"Think we'd better have central meeting." Before Eric knew, Nell got up, opened the door of the operation center, stepped on the stairs' platform and whistled loudly, using her fingers only. Of course, no team hurried up.  
From the antique writing desk, Hetty looked up. "Yes, Miss Jones?"

"I think you'd better come up, Hetty," she said.

With the comments of Nell who showed the exact route that the truck had followed, both Eric and Hetty were quiet for some time. "This is not why they were sent over there, was it?" Nell now asked, looking at Hetty. "I mean, WE did not see this coming, and unless there is someone of one of the other agencies involved in truck-hijacking I think nobody briefed director Vance either."

"My guess is that this truck was hijacked less than 50 miles from where the team is," Eric added to Nell's story.

The petite office manager stood in front of the large table screen when she made a decision. "Mister Beale, send the alarm to Mister Callen's watch. I want them to move on. And get me on the phone with director Vance, will you?"  
She walked out of the operation center, knowing Vance would not agree on her decision. But the sooner the team could get to their target – finding it and destroying it from the inside - the better…  
Leon Vance should be the one to worry about this truck or be the one to let SecNav contact the Mexican authorities. Not her team. Well, at least not now. Maybe later.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Dieciocho de Marzo || Mexico**

The buzz and the soft beep of the alarm woke them up, although it wasn't that loud at all.

"Damn," Callen said, knowing what the alarm meant. "No way we can leave now, can we?"

"You were told what would happen when we are not moving to the next point, I reckon?" Same asked.

Callen frowned. "What makes you think I know more than you do?"

"C'mon Callen! You're the team leader. Hetty always tells you more than us!" Deeks uttered.

He shook his head, wincing by this movement. "Not this time," he explained. "The only briefing I had was the one with you all. This mission, so far, is a need-to-know until we move on."

"Y'think we should try to get away? By now, the group outside has been reduced to ten men at the most. Ana and two other women with them," Deeks noticed. Callen stood up and peeked through one of the holes of the boarded up windows. "Did you take notice of how much they had to drink?"

"Muchos cerveza's! Tequila, Mojito's… Yes, enough," Deeks confirmed. "Still, they don't look drunk. They're probably used to all this booze."

"Sam, any ideas about this?" Callen wanted to know.

Kensi reacted before Sam did. "We might give it a try. I mean, it's only that Ana-woman who appears to live in here. And if she takes her boyfriend with her, in here, they're distracted anyway. We should be able to overwhelm them and get away from this house."

Sam slowly nodded. "Guess we can. But we need to get transportation."

"There's a car parked in there," Deeks gestured. "It's the one that this Juan arrived in. So, is it a go?" He wanted to know, his attention back to what happened outside again. "Decide quickly. They're on their way."

While Callen was still doubting, it was Sam this time who made the final decision. "It's a yes. Kenz, Deeks – Ana's yours. I'll take Juan" he uttered softly. Sam knew Callen still might be too feeble, but he'd be okay for a backup.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

The couple now entered, clearly absorbed in each other and definitely not aware of what was about to happen. Of course, they had no reason to doubt their safety since it was their territory and there were so many of their people around. None of them hesitating to kill, if necessary or worse, just because they wanted to. Juan was the first to walk into the room, nearly walking backwards and not able to keep his hands of the woman. With one foot, he kicked the door close once his girlfriend had entered right behind him.  
In a matter of seconds Sam strangled Juan until he was unconscious, never doubting that his younger partners were overpowering Ana Juarez at the same time, listening at the sounds behind him. There was a loud thud and immediate after it, Sam heard a groan of Kensi. When he looked around, Ana Juarez was about to attack him.

"Estúpido! You'd better stay where you are," she hissed angrily. "Or I will scream and you will get yourself muertos, killed".

Before Sam could answer, Callen spoke. "Sam? Just do what she says. Back off." Sam looked at Deeks, floored, and Kensi, gasping for air and rubbing her belly. He sent Ana a venomous glance and knew his partner was right.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects**

"They still haven't moved," Eric stated. He was nearly panicking, sensing something was wrong. "Do you think we should warn Hetty?" He looked at Nell, hoping and actually expecting she would be the one to make decisions.

The younger information analyst watched the large screen with the dots and the green spots which represented the team's GPS-s that Eric had projected on the large wall and then pointed at the other screen right in front of them. "Or should we wait until you find out if 'Shiyan' sees anything new? It'll be in 43 minutes from now."

He sighed, not knowing if their decision would be the right one. He dialed Hetty's number, waited some seconds and then said "Line is busy. Maybe you're right Nell and we need to just wait and see. We can always call her, can't we?"

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Dieciocho de Marzo || Mexico**

"Now you listen, si? Whatever you will hear, whatever will, uhm, happen this night, you will espara aqui, stay here. Sit. Si?" Uneasily she looked at Juan and then at Sam. "Will he be out long?"

Sam shrugged. "Perhaps a quarter of an hour, no longer, I guess."

She hesitated, then she ordered him "You will have to carry him to one of the other rooms. No stupid actions if you want to stay alive." Sam looked at the others and noticed the slight nod of Callen. His jaw tightened and he sighed deeply before he did what the woman wanted.

"The bitch!" Deeks whispered, feeling angry because he was defeated. "Are you okay Fern?"

"Will be okay the moment I get to kick her," she grunted, still rubbing her sore ribs. "I really cannot imagine you let her floor you so easily."

"Let me? Kenselina, you were in jeopardize. I distracted that fury so you would stay safe. You should be grateful. You owe me, you and I should—"

"We get it, Deeks," Callen interfered. "Like I hope you get it that we're still stuck in here and our mission won't succeed."

"Callen?" Kensi asked. "Sam mentioned they're Los Zitas. But if they are, why would we go through the trouble of traveling further to what is supposed to be their territory?

It had bothered him too. "Both Jorge and Juan Rubio usually work in the Tamaulipas region. But this region used to be ruled by the Juarez cartel, and if Ana is one of them, maybe the other guys are Juarez too."

"Our contact should be in the Tamaulipas region, am I right?"

"Uh huh," was all the team leader said. "I do hope all will be clear once we get there." Before they could continue their cogitation, Sam returned, followed shortly by Ana Juarez who now looked rather nervous instead of headstrong and in power like before.  
She let her fingers go through her long black hair some times and then bit her underlip. "Escucha… You stay here and you stay low ahora, okay?" On that, she immediately left the room again and went outside.

Only minutes from that, severe shooting started outside.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects**

Henrietta Lange looked up from her paperwork when the telephone on her desk rang. She recognized the number in the display and drew in a deep sigh before she answered it. "Leon?"

"The mission is over, Hetty. Your team will return to Los Angeles as soon as we've got them back in the country. I booked them a flight from Monterrey back home."

She was quiet for some seconds before she asked "What happened?"

"The policia nacional and a special force of the Mexican army arrested the top of the Zita-cartel, in the woodland area outside Monterrey," Vance explained. "We found the team with them. Captured. As soon as they arrive in Los Angeles, I want Granger in there to clarify what happened, Hetty."

"Dieciocho de Marzo," Hetty confirmed. "We all knew they were there. How come nobody told us Los Zitos were in there as well?"

"Because nobody knew. Somebody provided some inside information and tipped the army where to find the leaders," Vance spoke. "Your information analysts are not to be blamed."

"Does this last sentence indicate you blame my team for anything," Hetty now asked, trying not to show her frustrations.

"As I said, Henrietta, I will have Owen Granger find out that. Be glad there will be no formal investigation. Not yet." On that, Vance simply disconnected, leaving Hetty perplexed.

* * *

_Thank you all for reading. I do hope you enjoyed this chapter, please let know!_

A/N Times are massively busy in here, but I expect to be back for another chapter in less than a week.


	7. Chapter 7

**Mexican Rose 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'**

**Chapter 7**

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects, 46 hours later**

"It is just that the Counterterrorism Team is pissed, so to say, Henrietta," Owen Granger told the petite office manager.

She cocked her head, thinking of why they would blame her team. "Let them be pissed. It is just that I really don't know why. My team was asked to take part in 'Zorro 3' and as far as I know, nobody of the CT was involved in this joint operations."

"They weren't. They, we just need to know what happened in there, what Callen and his team heard, did, experienced. That is why one of the leaders of the Department of State will be around with me to interview all four of the team separately," Granger explained. His rather nasal voice was calm when he spoke "Oh, and about Vance? He is disappointed you ignored all orders and sent the alarm to the team without any more deliberation. Pissed too, so to say," he concluded.

Hetty sighed. She would get over it, so would Vance, so would her team. After all, they were all seasoned agents, professionals.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || Boatshed, 51 hours later**

Sam had not returned yet, so Kensi and Deeks figured that the purpose of these interviews was that they would not share any of their responses. Granger had explained beforehand that he and the nearly bold and pale looking senior official of the Department of State who was introduced as Hugh Nichols, wanted to know what happened and which things each of them had experienced in Mexico.

First Sam had been interviewed, now Callen had entered their usual interrogation room. In contrast to the times the junior agents had been in the main room, this time there was no camera footage from the interrogation room. The two of them were simply waiting until it was their turn, when Eric activated the screen in the main room. "Hey guys. Thought you might be interested in this. It is an item that was just broadcasted on the real NBC Texas."

On screen came the headline 'The Mexican Army arrests top of the criminal group "Los Zitas" in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, 24 th August 2013.'  
It showed a group of heavily armed and masked Mexican Army troop, leading their prisoners on a stage, handcuffed and dressed in white overalls and orange bulletproof vests.  
The voice-over spoke "_It took the army months of planning this precision operation in the region of Monterrey in which they managed to stop the brothers Jorge and Juan Rubio, in charge of criminal group Los Zitas in the states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. The capture of the Rubios was labeled as one as the biggest in the last ten years. This group was responsible of the beheading of 37 hostages, organizing prison riots and the killing of illegal immigrants who paid for crossing the borders. Intense analysis and monitoring of drug- and human trafficking organizations, combined with inside information, allowed to pinpoint the small village of Dieciocho de Marzo where the group recently moved to. Next to the arrest of the two leaders, a group of 15 men were taken into custody as well. With them were the bodyguard of Jorge Rubio and a woman identified as Ana Juarez, girlfriend of Juan Rubio. During this operation, a group of hostages was released. Some fifty rifles, various handguns, large sums of cash, marijuana, communication devices and computer equipment were taken as well."_

"Great", Kensi mumbled. But then she couldn't help the smirk that appeared on her face when she saw how one of the armed guys forced the woman with the barrel of his gun to keep her head up instead of looking down and away from the camera. "Thanks, Eric. It made my day."

"Be glad we lived to see another day, Kenselina. Told'ya I'm not suited for jungle life. I prefer the city jungle, feeling at home with the ocean, sunshine on my face and a beer in my hand. So how about sharing those last three things with me tonight?" Deeks nearly begged.

"You know what, Deeks? It sounds good."

Before they could discuss their evening plans, Granger appeared in the room. "Miss Blye? We'd like to see you in here."

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects || 2 hours later**

Granger had accompanied the four to their regular office and together with Hetty they directly went upstairs to the operation center.

"Whoah. Hetty, where are the wonder twins?" Deeks wanted to know when he noticed Hetty was the one to open an online connection with an older, uniformed man who wore a mustache like one would only see in the movies.  
The older woman shot him a fearsome glance and then started talking to the man on the screen. "Buenos Tardes, señor Mandola. What we want to know is if your men have managed to trace the truck that was supposed to have been hidden near Dieciocho de Marzo."

"Near the river. On one of the small roads," Kensi added.

The man on the screen answered "No. Too bad, we have not found anything but some tire tracks to this place we think it was, and back to the main road again. We will keep you posted, of course."

"As ever," Hetty responded with a smile. "Thank you, Pedro." On that, she hit the escape button on Eric's tablet and the screen turned back to black. "Who needs the whiz kids," she said, shaking her head. "You know, Mr. Deeks, the kids needed their rest. And so do you, in fact, we all do".

Callen looked at her, then at Granger. Some things bothered him. "How about informing us first about that special operation we obviously ruined?"

There was a small nod of acknowledgment from Granger to Hetty. "The operation is still going on. Classified. I'm sorry, Mr. Callen, it is premature to inform you about it," she told him and then addressed them all "Now, I suggest you all head home and sleep in your own houses in your own beds before we meet again, tomorrow at noon. Just for a short period in the gym and some paper work, lady and gentlemen."  
She let her gaze go over her team and felt strangely proud, once again.  
"Now, shoo!" she clapped her hands as they did not react to her words.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects || 3 months later**

The November rains were early and colder than they were used to. It had been a grey and boring day and they were relieved they could close a case, which had gone very smoothly for once. The paperwork was finished soon too and it appeared to be one of those rare days they were finally able to be home early.

"Anyone in for a movie night?" Kensi asked. Every now and then, Nell, Eric and Deeks came around at Kensi's place to have a relaxed night with a movie, some pizza and drinks.

"Sure. Surfing sounds good too, but not with these rains," Eric said.

Deeks sent Kensi a broad smile. "When the other surfer-boy comes, I'll be there too and I'll bring Monty with me. How about you, 'Velma', will you join us?" He teased the young information analyst with this name ever since the two of them had been working in the field for a short while earlier that year, the time Kensi had been in Afghanistan.

"Sure, Shaggy," Nell answered, laughing. "I'll get my bag. Who's driving?"

Callen quietly observed his younger team mates, a small smirk on his face when they started bantering about whose car was better or larger.

"How about you, G?" Sam wanted to know. "Wanna join, for once?"

Callen raised his eyebrows, surprise written on his face. "What, me?"

"Yeah, why not? It'll be fun," Kensi added. "Sam promised earlier that he'd come over. You should be there, Callen."

"Ehm. There's these files I have to go through. It'll take another hour or so," he tried to argue.

"Never mind. You can be around as soon as you've finished," Kensi persisted. "Bring your own beer. I'll order pizza at – let's say – 7.45, alright?"

"I'll wait for you, partner," Sam smiled, glad Callen finally gave in. "See you, guys!" He greeted the others who were already leaving.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

In fact, he closed the last file on his desk only half an hour later. One of the disadvantages of being the team leader was the detested and never-ending pile of files that ended in his 'to-do' box on his desk. Callen sighed and wordlessly rubbed his neck.

Sam looked up from his laptop, where he'd been looking for Christmas presents for his kids. "'y're tired, G?"

"Could use a run on the beach right now," Callen muttered.

"It'll have to wait, buddy," Sam replied. "The fun thing is that at Kensi's place you'll probably use some muscles you hardly train." He already chuckled on the remark he was about to make. "Your laughing muscles!"

"Ho-ho-ho," Callen "said as he smirked. He took his bag and already stood next to his desk when Sam was still closing down the system of his laptop. "Ready to go?"

"You're fast!" Sam remarked.

From behind them, the voice of Hetty sounded. "You should be faster, gentlemen. We have a case."

"Really," was all Callen could say. "What do you have, Hetty?"

"An explosion and shooting at a safe house. Casualties. Go, and keep safe what needs to be kept safe. Protect who needs to be protected. The Jungle, 6978, Trolleyway Street. We're closest, so hurry. I will inform the others and send all intel you need to your phones."

All weariness disappeared immediately as they hurried to Sam's car and rushed to the address Hetty gave them.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || Trolleyway Street, 10 minutes afterwards**

"Hetty alarmed the others. They're on their way too," Callen mentioned after he checked his cell phone. "Dunno what or who we'll find. Neighbors called 911 after they heard all of it. LAPD should be around at the same time as we do. "

"Whose safe house is it?" Sam asked.

"Used by CIA, FBI, Homeland Security, ICE, Department of State, bureau of Counterterrorism, even ours," Callen summed up. "Not clear who used it right now."

In front of the house already stood two police cars, sirens on, taking the yellow ribbon to barricade the crime scene. The moment they stepped out of the car, they noticed two uniformed lifeless bodies near the front door. "Not good, buddy," Sam noted.

"Nope." Callen said. Then he addressed one of the police officers "EMT's on their way?"

The man nodded. "They should be in here any moment. Another deadly victim inside. And one, none uniformed man, severely hurt. Explosion was inside," he added.

They ducked underneath the tape and entered the building, trying to find out as much as possible. One of the LAPD officers was holding a young man, whose blonde hair was sticky and red from the blood that was seeping out of it. Still, the man's eyes were opened and he appeared to be aware of what happened. Sam kneeled next to the officer and immediately, the young man grasped the sleeve of his shirt. "Find my partner. Please."

"Of course." Sam responded.

"—hurt. Beach." The man softly croaked. Then, he tiredly closed his eyes.

"Damned", Callen said. "That could be everywhere!"

"I'll stay," the LAPD officer said. You two can go."

"Two others will be around soon," Sam told the man. "Let them go through this house and try and find out more." Then he and Callen crossed the street and hurried towards the beach. "I'll take the bay watch house," Sam shouted. "Pier's yours!"

His gun at the ready, Callen let his gaze go over the pier. No-one around on it, except for a lonely fisherman. He looked around. Nothing suspicious. Or wait. Footsteps in the wet sand indicated somebody had been walking in here lately. He skulked to where the footsteps went, underneath the pier. That is when he heard someone instruct in a soft voice "drop the gun". At the same time, somewhere further away, shooting started.

* * *

_Thanks for reading. Please let me know is you liked this chapter, your reviews are very welcome!_


	8. Chapter 8

**Mexican Rose 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'**

**Chapter 8**

* * *

Disclaimer: All credits for the great characters of NCIS-Los Angeles go to Shane Brennan, his writing team and CBS. Thank you for letting me use them!

Read a great motto recently: ~ There is only one plot - things are not what they seem ~ Jim Thompson

* * *

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || Playa del Ray**

Sam had hurried to the bay-watch beach house and checked for anything that might indicate anyone was hiding on the street side of it. Nothing at all. Then he carefully looked around the corner. The beach appeared to be empty, no wonder with the cold rain showers. Just as he stepped around the building, a shot that came from the beach side ricocheted off the wall, only inches from his head. He quickly ducked back from where he came from: a safer spot behind the building, breathing hard.

He activated his earwig and shouted "G! Shooter in here!" He expected a quick response from his partner, but there was no reaction at all, so he deactivated and reactivated the earwig once again. "Callen?!" Nothing. There was another shot his way and he quickly lowered himself. "Kensi, Deeks! Need some assistance in here!"

From ops he heard Eric quickly leading the junior agents to the exact spot he was and Sam needed to know where Callen was. "Eric, get Callen this way as well."

"Will do so, Sam," was the swift reaction from the technical operator.

It hardly ever happened connections failed. Besides that, it hardly ever happened that he and his partner decided to separate in the field. In a way, this did not feel good. However, he had no time to ponder over where Callen was. The shooter definitely got company and shots came from two ways by now. He knew that if he stayed where he was right now, they'd come closer and he would be in serious danger. So, Sam took a couple of deep breaths and decided to give it a go, back to the entrance to the bike path, hoping his fellow workers would be in time to assist him.

He nearly made it, but then a shot hit his left shoulder and the blast made him lose his balance and he stumbled and fell.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || Playa del Ray, less than 500 feet further**

'Call it a lifetime of experience', Callen thought. When someone ordered him to lay down his gun, he could tell whether his opponent was armed or not. Although this threat sounded serious, he sensed that he was the only one with a gun. So, no way he'd let go of his weapon.  
Immediately after, he had lost it anyway, kicked out of his hands by the person who had instructed him to drop the gun. Before he had a chance to fight back, there was an odd whistling sound and a short sting in his neck. Callen raised his arm and reached for what had hit him. It angered him more than he thought when he noticed what it was. In a matter of seconds, his vision blurred and before he knew it, dizziness overwhelmed him. His legs felt like jell-o and he realized he was going to pass out. It was exactly what happened, but right before that happened, he heard running feet.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

Sam knew he had to get away. From behind, he heard running feet coming closer. He managed to get back on his feet, only to hear more shots coming his way. Another one grazed his hip. He wasn't able to keep going much longer. He knew it -feeling weaker with every step because of the blood loss and the pain he felt. Just when he was going to give in, shots went in opposite direction too. The cavalry had arrived.

He gratefully dropped on his knees in the soft, wet sand.

"Sam?" Kensi was right beside him, managing to catch him before he collapsed. "Sam?" He moaned while she alerted Eric. "We need a medic over here!"

Despite the fact her attention went out to the senior agent she now held, she was still aware of what was happening around her. Deeks wasn't the only one that chased the shooters. There were two others assisting. "Hey big boy, help is on its way."

Weaker than he wanted to sound, he queried in a slurry voice "'s-Callen around?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. Eric can't contact him. Maybe his comlink is simply too wet from this stupid rain. But the guys at ops said have his position on screen. Deeks will be on his way soon."

There were more shots fired and someone shouted "One to go." It wasn't Deeks' voice. Kensi now concentrated on keeping Sam awake. He was losing more blood than was good for him. Her jeans already felt warm from his blood seeping on it and she hoped the EMT would arrive soon. "You know how he is, Sam. A bloodhound who smells his prey." she said. "Why did you split up? Wait, don't tell me. Must have been one of Callen's bad and wild ideas of course."

"Mine, Kenz."

"Well, in that case it was one of Callen's bad and wild ideas not to protest. I'll tell him, alright?"

"Uh-huh."

From a distance, she heard the sirens of an ambulance coming their way. "Bet Hetty already called Michelle. See who gets to the hospital first. I will tell the paramedics I put my bets on you, alright?"

"Uh-huh."

"Sam, you have to stay alert, stay awake. I'm going to keep talking to you and you'll respond, okay?"

The slightest shake of his head. "Stay with Deeks."

From ops she heard Eric speaking again. "Hetty's on her way to pick up Michelle. Callen is still not responding Kensi. He should be near, though." It worried Kensi, somehow. If Callen was near, he would have heard and hurried to the shooting, having his partner's back.

"Sam?" They both looked up. "Christ, Sam… what happened." Hank Webster stood in front of them, together with Deeks and one of the others of the team of four they met earlier in Mexico, Xavier.

From the opposite direction, the other two of that team came running, Ruiz and Sebastian.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects, 4 hours later**

Nell looked at Hetty and then shook her head. "Nothing!" she desperately said. "There are no camera's that covered that part of the beach with the pier. And in fact, nothing suspicious is going on in the area around it that could be traced to where Callen might be."

"We've got his earwig. Callen must have lost it," Kensi told, concern written all over her face. Sam would be alright, that they knew, since the ER surgeon had quickly been able to remove the bullet that was still stuck between soft tissue and bone. Besides the blood loss, he'd be up and around soon. The fact that Callen went missing however was worrying them utmost.

"The only thing I found were traces of footprints. Several. But then, behind the pier someone deliberately wiped them all away so we can't see whose footprints it were and where they went." Deeks added with a serious face and a deep sigh. "Which makes me believe Callen has not lost his earwig. Someone knew he was wearing one and forced him to get it out. Just like they deliberately switched off his phone but left it in there."

Hetty was quiet, then she directed the four to stop watching screens and invited them to the couch corner. "Now, what I want you to do is to start thinking out of the box. Say what you think. We need to consider all possible angles."

There was a pause before Eric started. "What if there was a Comescu involved? I mean, we haven't even received any information about who were around in the safe house. But we know how Vasile managed to lure Callen last year. And we do know how Callen tends to go 'lone wolf' once things get personal."

"Good point," Hetty agreed.

"Callen might have joined somebody he knows, and show up or contact us any minute," Nell hoped.

Deeks shook his head. "In that case, why bother to wipe out any footprints? No, I'm with Eric. Someone must have expected him to come."

"I think we need to find out who was the one in the safe house and to find who was the second person that disappeared. Nell, Eric, can you find out about it, with Hetty? Deeks, I think you and I should invite Hank Webster in here, maybe he and his team know more. They were close by." Kensi worked her way in this case like she'd seen Callen do so many times, not noticing the small supportive smile that appeared on Hetty's face.

"Good thinking, Miss Blye. The only thing we'll have to change in your planning is the fact that it is almost 10 in the evening, which makes us need to postpone some of the plans until tomorrow."

"But we could ask Hank to come over. I mean, we'd do the same for them if they'd ask us." Kensi argued. "And if you'd contact the agency that used the safe house, we can start asking them tomorrow morning. We're two man short, you know," she concluded with a sad face.

"Not really, Miss Blye. By tomorrow morning, assistant director Owen Granger will have arrived in here. The two of you could well work together once again, like you did in Afghanistan. And when you were in there, I've seen excellent work of Mr. Deeks together with Miss Jones. So, it is a yes for inviting this team of Hank Webster to the boathouse. Miss Jones, you can join the others. Meanwhile, Mr. Beale and yours truly will try and supply you with as much information as possible."

Eric already headed upstairs, asking on his way "Which agency does this guy Webster work for, by the way?"

Kensi looked at Deeks and then shrugged and took her cellphone. "Really don't know. He left his number though, so I could call him."

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || Boatshed**

"It's a good thing you called, agent Blye," Hank Webster told her. "How's Sam doing?"

"Please call me Kensi. Sam's doing fine. He'll be around here later this week, I'm pretty sure about that," she answered.

"So, which agency you said you are working for?" Nell bluntly asked.

A polite smile appeared on his companion's face who introduced himself as Nigel Sebastian. "You haven't been told yet? We, erhm, we work for the AVC," he answered. While Deeks and Kensi obviously tried to remember what the abbreviation stood for, Nell immediately responded "Arms Control, Verification and Compliance. State Department, am I right?"

It was clear that Sebastian wanted to add something, but it was Deeks who said "If it wasn't for Nell, I would have guessed 'Audio and Video Control', or 'Amazing Vamp's Circus'. So, surprise us, what do you guys do at this agency?"

Webster replied "I suppose you do know, agent Deeks."

"Detective Deeks it is. And maybe I know, but you might just as well keep us updated."

"This afternoon it did not matter that we're in fact monitoring and reporting about other countries' compliances when it comes to arms control and treaties. We were near and received a message about a shooting in a safe house. So, we arrived soon after Sam and your other team mate had arrived and the LAPD officers told us where to find them," Hank Webster told them.

Kensi sensed how his mood quickly changed. "Anything specific you saw, heard or experienced?" she calmly asked.

"Except from shots from two different sides, no. Nothing."

She sighed. It seemed like a simple dead end.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || somewhere**

From what he felt around him, Callen figured he was in a small shipping container. It was freezing cold in it, hardly any warmer than outside. He shivered once again and closed the zipper of his leather jacket. He leaned against the warmest side of the hard wall and put his knees up. Only minutes ago, he found out there was enough space to stand up and despite the pitch-dark, he soon figured out he was stuck in one of those containers one could use for moving furniture around. The size of this metal casing had the standard measurements for it; about 8 feet high and wide, and nearly 20 feet deep.  
In one of his earlier missions for the CIA, Callen had used tranquilizers and he remembered it had kept his opponent out for nearly 3 hours. If that had happened to him, the range of where he'd been taken could be miles out of town. But he knew it was just an estimation; it could be a different kind of tranquilizer and he could still be in town just as well.

Never, ever he was going with Sam's decision to split up. It had been careless and stupid.

Just as he had decided to kill time simply by ticking off all possible options, the doors opened and in the dim night light that entered, some persons appeared, shoving another person in. Immediately after, the doors were closed once again.

'Should have been more alert', he mumbled, more or less to himself. Nobody responded, so Callen carefully crawled closer to where he thought the other person would be. Crap, they'd probably gotten to Sam too… Once he reached the other person, he was about to shake his partner awake. The moment he touched the unconscious body, he knew he was wrong. This wasn't Sam.

The uninvited guest was female, laying face down, he noted. Wet hair hid most of her face. He turned her around, shocked by the fact her clothes were soaking wet. The soft and unwilling moan might indicate she was in pain too.

* * *

_Thanks for reading, please let me know how you liked this chapter..._

~Have a Happy Xmas Holidays~


	9. Chapter 9

**Mexican Rose 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'**

**Chapter 9**

* * *

**Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects, early next morning**

"Any news, Eric?" Kensi wanted to know. Although Hetty had surprised them by the new split up of the team, Owen Granger had not shown up yet.

Eric looked up from his screen and told the others "The BOLO for Callen that we sent out to other agencies did not bring out any hints, unfortunately."

"By now he could be everywhere, damnit," Nell exclaimed, which in fact shocked them all. Cursing was hardly ever done at ops and so far never by Nell. But it seemed alright now, in a strange way. They all were quiet for a while.

"So… What have we got so far on all the other things we wanted to know?" Kensi asked.

Eric then pointed out "Well, we need to start somewhere… This specific house at Trolleyway Street, it was used by the Department of State yesterday. Two of their special agents were accompanying a suspect of multiple crimes in there, this man," and, as he showed them on the big screen, "Manuel Santosa."

"Santosa was in charge of Los Zita's in our part of the country." Granger's voice came from behind them. "Good morning to you all," he added with a quick smirk.

"Morning to you too, Sir. So, Santosa did indeed," Eric took over again. "But five weeks ago, he went back to Mexico. Local government assume it was Santosa who was behind the latest prison break during which 42 inmates escaped. Guards were ruthlessly killed."

"Let me guess. He helped the Rubios escape?" Deeks cut in.

"Only fifty percent of them, Marty," Eric said, while grinning at the others. "Juan Rubio died during the confrontation of his guards and his liberators. Which earned Manuel Santosa a higher level in Los Zita's, by the way."

"And how come Santosa showed up in LA?" Kensi was curious.

"He showed up in Vegas, to be exactly at 'Bally's' where he mixed himself in a fight and was arrested. Once authorities in there found out who he was, they made no secret of having him around. Immediately after cartel members showed up in town and the CIA put him on a secret transport to Los Angeles," Eric explained. "Now, as I said, here in town, Department of State took over the case. CIA would have been too obvious."

"So, how come I've got a hunch that it wasn't a secret anymore and it still was obvious where Santosa was?" Deeks stated. "Those cartel members seem to pop up like mushrooms in autumn," he added. "What if they're in here too?"

"Not probable, but neither impossible," Eric thought out loud. "I think they'll get Santosa out of the country as soon as possible. We've got Kaleidoscope running, though, and Homeland Security watches with us. So far, we don't know if he's arrived in Mexico already or is still in the United States."

"The Department of State is a large organization. Any clues to which sub-department? Anything on the second agent yet?" Nell asked, then immediate took her own tablet. "Ah, I see. We had Noah Winter and Eric Stephenson on duty. Winter was the agent who got shot."

Kensi responded. "What if you and Deeks go and visit him at the hospital? See if he is able to tell anything. What's this Stephenson's address? Granger and I'll go and check it."

In his usual nasal voice, Granger said "You all know just as well as me that we don't have any jurisdiction and neither the CIA nor the State Department will be happy if we stick our noses in their business."

"Well, Owen, how come I would know this was about what I expected you to say?" Hetty interrupted as she entered ops. "I suggest you all forget those last words Mr. Granger spoke. Director Vance contacted the acting directors to discuss this matter and we were promised all cooperation in this delicate case. The CIA is not happy at all that they obviously lost a very important subject. The Department of State and NCIS—", she swallowed some times before she looked the others in the eyes, "we—both our offices lost some of our best agents, either because they are hospitalized or went MIA. So, I suggest we hurry up and get to work!"

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**previously || somewhere**

In the complete darkness, Callen was unable to find out who this woman was. She was unresponsive and in pain, that he knew, and in this cold container, she would be freezing if she'd stay in these wet clothes. Still, he was unsure when he decided to pull off the soaking sweat-jacket she was wearing anyway. Sure, he had undressed women before, but never against their will or, like now, somebody he did not know, without seeing what he did or without any fair warning. The movement of it all obviously was causing pain, since another soft whimper sounded. Carefully, Callen pulled her closer, zipped down his jacket and took it off, then tried to cover them both, hoping to keep each other as warm as possible.

He probably dozed off for a while when he woke up from her stirring from her unwilling sleep. Callen supposed she was drugged like he had been. It suddenly was clear to him that this woman must have been the agent Sam and he had been looking for. However, he could not figure out the reason of capturing and keeping them in here.  
Where-ever here was.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || Pico Rivera**

"Next turn to the right," Kensi told Granger, who was driving the silver Cadillac. "7763 Cravell Avenue. According to the map, it's on the left, somewhere halfway this street."

There was no response from Granger, such a contrast with the talkative Deeks and the banter she admitted she missed so much. Now Kensi was the one to ride shotgun. "There's definitely no Hetty Lange in control of the LA agency of this sub-department of the Department of State."

"How's that?" Granger wondered.

"We were demanded to live closer to headquarters," Kensi said. "I wouldn't mind living here though."

Before Granger could react to that, Kensi's phone chirped. She looked at the screen. "Eric, what do you have?" she simply reacted.

"Nell just called in. Noah Winter died late last night. An cerebral hemorrhage, caused by the severe head wound he sustained in the explosion. She and Deeks want to know if you need any assistance."

Kensi looked up from her phone "Do we need assistance?" she asked.

"Who wants to know?" Granger asked.

"Eric. Ehm, Nell. And Deeks."

"I'd say we can handle this. After all, we handled the 'White Ghost' as well. This should be rather easy," he answered.

Kensi spoke directly in the phone again. "Got that, Eric?"

"Copy that. And Kensi, for your information, Eric Stephenson lived with his younger sister, Beth. Both not married, no kids."

"Even better. She might know where he is. Maybe he called her."

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Somewhere**

She shivered and more or less unaware cuddled up to the warmth of his body, then suddenly appeared to be wide awake and she rose to a sitting position. Doing so, she winced in pain.

"Hush, take care," Callen told her in a soft voice. "Try not to move too much. Can you tell what it is that hurts you?"

Instead, she asked "Where am I? Who are you?"

Callen felt slightly unsure. What if others were listening? What if he was wrong about his previous presumption and she was not who he thought she was? Could he trust anyone, should he trust her right now?

"Gosh, it's freezing in here," his companion then said. He could hear her carefully sinking down against the same wall he sat, rubbing her bare arms as she tried to warm herself. "Wonder why these bastards took my sweater."

He paused shortly. "I'm sorry. I took it off. From what I felt and smelled, you took a forced swim in the ocean. All your clothes were soaked. And you were out for the last few hours, so—" Callen did not get a chance to finish his sentence.

"So you simply decided to undress me?" she scoffed. When he did not respond, she continued. "Who are you anyway?"

"I'm the one whose gun you kicked away, under the pier," he answered. "That was when I came looking if you needed any help after what happened."

Callen could almost hear her disappointment. "You were an easy target. Not only for me, but you should have been aware of others too."

"Yes, and thank you," he said, offended by her words.

She sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. Sure you meant to do the right thing. It is just that—"

She did not get the chance to say what she wanted as the door of the container was suddenly opened and three heavily armed men entered in the doorpost.

"Get up, both of you," one of them shouted, "and get over here."

Callen blinked some times against the lights they shined inside the container. He got on his feet and heard how his female fellow prisoner slowly rose as well, behind him. He assessed their position and immediately decided that it was useless to think they'd be able to escape right now.

Behind him, he heard her sharp inhale of breath and a hiss of anger.

Then, one of the men addressed him "Hello, special agent Callen".

He knew it. He had been right all the time that something was off and only now, he remembered what.

The other man growled, definitely angry now "Why are you not surprised?!"

"Ruiz. He was the one who lost his temper the first time he saw me in Mexico. And the only one who introduced himself by his first name, assuming we'd be ignoring that. Ruiz Jiminez will always be following his hero like a servant, won't he, Santosa?" Callen knew he would upset his capturers but couldn't help it.

The punch in his face didn't come as a surprise.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || Cravell Avenue || Pico Rivera**

Granger walked behind her. Not on her side, like Deeks used to do. Kensi sighed. Well, it was because they needed to get Callen back, and Sam, so she hoped they'd soon close this case. Although her senior partners were no 'case'. Kensi could not imagine she'd ever work without them. During the last few years, some terrible things had happened to their team and still they managed to stay alive and together. So, even more than wanting to work with Deeks soon, Kensi wanted the team to be together, alive.

Another sigh as she was about to knock and announce their presence. Then, Kensi was alerted. The door was ajar. She motioned to Granger and he nodded.

"Federal agents," she spoke loudly, as she drew her gun and carefully entered the house, followed by Owen Granger.  
The mugs on the coffee table in the living room were filled. Granger checked them. "Cold," he whispered. He took some rubber gloves and handed Kensi another pair. After they had put them on, Granger gestured at Kensi, he was about to check the rooms at the right, she could do the ones on the left.  
On his 'clear' of the first of the bedrooms, she checked the kitchen. "Clear', she said. Then she opened the door to the laundry. "Shit," she mumbled as she overlooked the small and narrow room. "Granger, in here!" she then shouted.

There was no use in feeling if there was a pulse. Both people would not be able to tell what happened, since they were brutally killed, their throats slashed. Granger observed the mess that was left by the assassins of these two people. "Most probable the lady of the house. And from what I see, I suppose the male is indeed her brother."  
He took his cell phone and stepped a little closer so he could keep the camera above the victims. Without disturbing the crime scene, he carefully stepped back into the kitchen, then made a call. "Eric? I just sent you a picture. As you can see, we need the coroner in here. LAPD would be welcome too. Please check out if this is Eric and Beth Stephenson in the picture."

Kensi went back to the living room. She tried to imagine what had happened. No traces of a break-in. Whoever did this, must have been convincing enough when he or they entered this house. Stephenson was supposed to be the one who would have joined Winter at the safe house, at least, that is what their operational leader had told Hetty. She bit the inside of her cheek. There should be a clue, somewhere, on why Stephenson was in here, supposing it was indeed him. Had he managed to escape and go home without telling anyone? Or was he never around that safe house?

The kitchen was like the living room, no traces of any violence at all. Where and why did that change? That's when she noticed a cell phone near the coffeemaker. She knew she could do two things. First, she redialed the number that was last used. Although it was not answered, she let it ring. And indeed, it did what she wanted it to do – switch to voice-mail. 'Hi, it's Leah. I won't listen to you now. Please leave your message as soon as you've heard me say Beep. Beep, guys. If I want to call you, or listen to you, you'll hear from me! Beep.'

Then Kensi took her own phone. "Eric? Can you find out which Leah owns cell phone 562-256-2739?—Yeah, I know you're working on the coroner. If you find out, please let me know. Listen, I'll take the Phone I found in here with me. I know you can do miracles with those things. Any possible shared numbers on their phones, things like that. And share with Nell and Deeks, will you?—Uh huh. Any news on Sam?—That's great, thank you!"

"Blye?" Granger asked. "Anything?"

She nodded. "This phone was around. The last number called belonged to a female called Leah. I've got Eric finding out who she is."

"A possible girlfriend?" Granger suggested.

"Could be anyone. Could be someone who's related to Beth as well of course." Kensi took the phone again and scrolled through the numbers. Nothing familiar. "Can't tell if it is his or her phone in fact." Her phone chirped, once again and Kensi quickly changed it. Not Eric calling. "Deeks?"

From the operational center, Deeks looked at the intell that had appeared on the large screen. "Kens? LAPD should be in there by now. I'd like you to share your thoughts about some things, so could you come back to headquarters soon, please?"

* * *

_Thank you all for reading! Your reviews mean a lot to me, so keep them coming :-)_


	10. Chapter 10

**Mexican Rose ~ 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'**

**Chapter 10**

* * *

**Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects**

"Meet Leah. This is the person Stephenson called, Kensi," Eric told the members of the team who now all had entered ops as he showed them a picture of a drivers license on the large screen.

"So… Leah Ryker?" Kensi mumbled, stunned as she was when she saw what Deeks had meant.

"So far for our 'angry Ana', Fern. 'Give thy thoughts no tongue.' Again, Shakespeare," her partner said.

"You—what?" Kensi reacted to those last words Deeks had recited. "Never mind though." She was quiet for a while, then sighed deeply. The copper red hair and slightly tanned skin did miracles to the green eyes and 'Ana Juarez' must have had difficulties with the nippy look and angry behavior towards them, since Leah Ryker's smile on this picture was so natural indeed.

"Deeks told us you met her before?" Nell looked at Kensi. She simply nodded, then Kensi asked "But why did Stephenson call her?"

"I tried to dig deeper into the digits of the phone calls. In vain, so far." Eric reacted to her question. "Stephenson made three calls to her number, that was easy to trace. We don't have her phone and although I usually don't need it, all the intel seems to be protected. Too bad, I know."  
He sat down again and swiveled his chair towards his own screen and keyboard. "Google or other search engines found nothing on her. Do you think I should hack in some systems?"

A non-understanding stare of assistant director Granger, now taking part in solving this case, showed he would be far more rigid than Hetty when it came to matters like this. Before he could react however, a loud whistle sounded and they all looked up. One by one, they left the operational center and looked down over the cast iron railings, only to see Hetty Lange who had taken her purse and stood in the bullpen, looking up.  
"Miss Blye, Mr. Deeks, your assistance is required at the boatshed," she said. "And Mr. Beale, I would like you to stay stand-by please. Meanwhile, Owen, you and Nell could see if there are any files on Manuel Santosa versus DEA."

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Somewhere**

Judging by the light outside, Callen estimated it was about 6 in the early morning, before sunrise. And although he had figured out that he could be anywhere, observing how long the woman had been out, it felt awkward to see the large container was placed in front of a house on the corner of Rees Street and Trolleyway street, at such a short distance from the pier and the house he and Sam had visited.

Three heavily armed man, an empty street, himself and the female who was kept in there. He quickly glanced at her, once more assessing the chances of getting away.  
Callen, known for keeping his face nearly unreadable, now drew in his breath sharply when he looked straight into the same green eyes that had mesmerized him months before, although she had belonged to the capturers of his team back then - Ana Juarez.

She managed to look away, though he read the same surprised look on her face.

"We all know the two of you met before. There's no need to hide it, miss Ryker," Ruiz Jiminez snarled. "Now, before we get moving, you get 10 minutes to refresh yourselves."

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || Rees Street**

They had entered the house which clearly was not lived in at the moment. Most of the rooms they passed were emptied, only some basics were left. "Bathroom to the left", growled the only one of the three men who'd come inside with them. They entered a small bedroom with an annexed bathroom and right behind them, the guard shut the door.

"It's you. Why are you in here?" she asked in a soft voice. Callen noticed she was still shivering from the cold.

"I've got the feeling we can and need to talk later," Callen answered. He noticed the darker spot where the green tank top she was wearing seemed to stick on her body right above her waistline. He looked around in the bathroom where he found a first aid kit. "Let me look at that," he said as he motioned at what definitely must hurt her.  
There was a flash of distrust. She swallowed once and then said "I can handle it myself."

Callen shook his head. "Don't think so. You need an extra hand and you might just as well accept two hands. No time to discuss, we should do this together. Whatever the plans of these guys are, we both need to be vigilant and watchful and try to find the right way and moment to get away."

She nodded and then looked at where she was hit by a piece of debris from the explosion in the safe house. She tried to pull away the shirt but flinched immediately after it. Then she opened the wardrobe in the room they were in. Some old shirts were still in there. "I'll clean it. There's a shower, I'll be quick. You can help to dress it after that," she decided as she closed the door.

Callen made some mental notes. Stubborn. Independent. Distrusting. Loner.  
Then he tried to remember all about the case during which he met Manuel Santosa and Ruiz Jiminez, years ago.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || Boatshed**

Much to their surprise, Hetty had joined them at the boatshed. She and Kensi now sat opposite of two serious looking men who had simply introduced themselves as Homeland Security officers Roberts and Corey. Deeks leaned on the kitchen counter. The youngest one of them, Roberts, probably was the leader while the older man took the role of the observer.

"Our systems scanned the fact that your systems tried to breach the phone records of one of our special agents," Roberts explained in a quiet tone. "So I contacted your office."

Kensi frowned. "That phone call might have worked as well."

Roberts nodded, his brows wrinkled in worry and he shove back his hair from his forehead. "I'd agree with you agent Blye, but we came from El Paso to Los Angeles because we are looking for Leah Ryker ourselves. She was supposed to stay with some friends, we needed her for a new case and now we can't contact her."

Deeks suddenly looked up. "And those friends happen to be the Stephensons? You see, I don't believe in coincidences, yet they happen."

Officer Corey now leaned forward and put his elbows on the table. "So you know Eric Stephenson? We could not contact him either."

Deeks wanted to react to this, but it was Hetty who did. She turned the telephone that was on the table to officer Corey "If you have his number, please try it for yourself."  
Corey turned to his fellow worker. "Roberts?" The other man already scrolled through his contacts and then started dialing. The phone rang twice before it was answered. "Eric?—Beale—Uh-huh." He sighed deeply and then told the others "That guy asked to turn on the screen."

Deeks did what Eric had asked. He understood Hetty simply had wanted to check if these two officers knew Eric Stephenson indeed.  
"Mister Beale, it is alright to show what we have," Hetty said and then she informed the officers "This is what our agents found at Stephenson's house." She let the disgust of what they had felt too when they saw what happened to the Stephensons fade away a bit, then she said "So, gentlemen, I think we have a shared case. What can you tell about Stephenson and Leah Ryker?"

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || Rees Street**

She had a quick shower indeed, then stepped back in the small bedroom, dressed in the same jeans and a plain, black bra only. She held the shirt that she had used as a towel against her body and then leaned to the wall . She took a deep breath before she took away the cloth. "Ehm, Calder? Could you hand me that first aid kit?"

Deep inside, he swore when he noticed the injury. Instead he said in a gentler voice "It's Callen. It would have needed stitches, agent Ryker."

"Well, then ask those men if it's okay for me to go to the hospital first," she nearly snapped. "Listen, you told me you'd help, didn't you?" She looked straight in his blue eyes, then she was the first one to look away. "I'm sorry, Callen. I know, I noticed the gash is deeper and longer than I thought it would be." She let her hands go through her wet dark red hair that now slightly curled. "Have you checked if there's enough material to dress the wound?"

Callen nodded. "We should hurry, they'll probably be back soon." He worked quickly, not distracted by the fact he was touching parts of a female body that should be touched differently.  
The woman was tough, though she kept her eyes closed and bit her lower lip, her body tense and Callen noticed she held her breath, trying to keep it under control.  
"Nearly finished now," he told her, admiring the fact she did not whine at all.

"You've done this before?" she asked in a soft voice when she looked at how his long fingers put on the last bit of band aid on the dressing to keep it in place.

"Too many times," Callen answered. "Listen, what do you know about Santosa?"

Her green eyes opened widely, intense now. "I—I thought I was still groggy and misunderstood. He is around, isn't he?"  
Callen simply acknowledged, then she continued. "I don't know anything about him, anything at all. It's just that—" she sighed deeply. "A friend asked if I could fill in for him for a couple of hours. A simple job, guarding a suspect in a safe house, accompanied by another of his Department of State agents and some uniformed guards. Santosa was the suspect and—"

Callen gestured to the door and signed her to stop talking. He grabbed the spare shirt she had taken from the wardrobe and handed it to her. Despite the fact that moving quickly must hurt indeed, she managed to put on the worn green-grey plaid shirt fast.

Seconds later, two man pointing their automatic guns at them forced them out of the house and into the back of a windowless van.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || Boatshed**

"Stephenson—Eric, was one of our special agents until two years ago. He then had a girlfriend and wanted a regular life and switched to less risky cases. The relationship ended but he kept his job nevertheless." Roberts told them.

"And Leah?" Kensi now asked. "Was she the girlfriend?"

Roberts snorted. "Oh, no way. Leah… No. Leah and Beth, Eric's sister—his now dead sister—were best friends. The three of them were always together. Leah is one of our secret weapons."

"You should tell them Leah had a rough period," Corey said in a soft voice.

"We figured that out already," Kensi simply stated. "There is just a piece of information we seem to miss. What agency are we talking about?"

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles**

Callen knew he needed to remember the name of the moving company, 'Yelp', just in case. Once the doors were closed behind them, the van drove away. It wasn't that easy to stay seated in the back of this van. There were some standard blankets and a pile of moving boxes, kept together with the usual black wrapping tape. He noticed that the woman already managed to ease herself, her knees pulled up, but she had her eyes closed and seemed far away. "Ryker?" he asked.  
Before he could continue, she simply responded. "Leah sounds alright to me."

"Are you okay?" he wanted to know. At least she sounded calm.

"Sure. As okay as I could be." She rubbed her forehead, then sighed. "Which route do you think they'll take?"

"What do you mean?" Callen asked.

"Tijuana, El Centro or Juarez, or even further? Or a plane?"

"You think they'll take us to Mexico? What makes you think so?"

"Ruiz. He and Webster and probably those other two, worked with Rubio."

"And Ruiz knows you're not Ana Juarez." He understood her worries. "Was your team bringing them down?"

Her green eyes locked into his blues, then studied his face as if she was trying to read his thoughts. "There is no team. I work alone."

It reminded him of the case they had with team Red, the discussion with Paris and the mess they found in El Centro at that time. It seemed years ago. "You mean you were in there alone, not knowing what you'd find?" Callen asked.

"Uh-huh," was all she said.

"Let me guess. DEA?"

Once again she carefully studied his face, not sure if she could trust him enough. "Are you DEA?" she then informed.

Callen smirked. "Not anymore. NCIS. Got used to work in a team, but back in the DEA days I used to work alone, sometimes undercover. It can be tough, I know."

"I'm Border Patrol," Leah answered.

He tried to read her face, smiled once again and said "I'll be damned. Bortac. Really? "

"Instead of playing Trivial Pursuit, we might think of how to get away from here. Jumping out of this driving van seems like a bad plan, but what if it stops?"

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || Boatshed**

"Bortac," Hetty repeated. "That is counter terrorism, am I right?"

"Bortac responds to terrorist threats of all types anywhere in the world in order to protect our nation's homeland," Corey simply clarified.

Roberts continued. "Leah Ryker was undercover over eight months until we had to give up the case without really wrapping it. We nailed the top of Los Zitas though."

"Dieciocho de Marzo," Kensi mumbled.

"The lifes of innocent hostages were threatened and besides, agent Ryker mentioned something changed when other westerns starting intervening." Roberts explained.

"So far for trust," Deeks muttered, "crede quod habes, et habes. Sam was right, something was wrong."

Hetty understood. "That team of Webster? By the way, agent Roberts, those hostages were far from innocent. It was my team."  
Then she pressed the redial button on the phone. "Eric? Put us back on screen and have assistant director Granger listen as well." She waited until they watched the persons they needed on screen, then she told "Hank Webster and his team. I want them in. Find them". On that, she simply disconnected and said "There's work to be done."

* * *

_Thank you for reading! Any thoughts, reviews or other comments are welcome_


	11. Chapter 11

**Mexican Rose ~ 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here' **

**Chapter 11**

* * *

_Thanks for hanging in there, everyone! Your reviews are great to get. I do hope you like this chapter too! _

* * *

**Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects**

"So we've got eight people at the morgue and three missing persons – our team leader Callen, your agent Ryker and Manuel Santosa," Nell summarized. "And one hospitalized team member of ours, Sam Hanna."

Granger continued "As for the suspects, we've got Los Zita's. As you know, most of them are at large after the prison break nearly six weeks ago."

Against all traditions and agreements, officers Corey and Roberts had accompanied Hetty, Deeks and Kensi and were listening as well. Roberts now put forward "There's more, you forgot we've got La Eme, here in town and in the region - Santosa is connected to them. Then there's Leah Ryker's worries about Hank Webster and his team. And let's not forget the Juarez cartel, once they found out that our Ana Juarez was not theirs."

"'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'. Ever so true, Shakespeare was right." Deeks softly mentioned. Kensi looked up, remembering they once laughed about this quote Deeks.

Nell filled the pause "Um, about the thing you wanted to find us more about, Hetty? So far, only two classified files on DEA versus Santosa. Granger requested to look in them, but it can take some hours before we have all the informations we want."

"What I don't get is why Sam was shot and Callen disappeared," Kensi said.

"We'll have to think it over, think it under too. How about distraction?" Deeks commented.

"Shakespeare again?" Eric wanted to know.

"Another classic one, Beale. Winnie the Pooh."

"Good thinking, Mr. Deeks. What if the team of Hank Webster, more or less trusted by Mr. Hanna, was responsible for all that happened, knowing Manuel Santosa was kept in that safe house? With just the slightest of inside information, they managed to get Leah Ryker in there as well. It would explain why they were around that soon. Your partners however were there too," Hetty resumed.

"And Callen told us something was off with one of Webster's team. He just couldn't remember. No wonder, with that concussion he suffered from back then," Kensi said. "It still doesn't make sense though, unless they expected Callen in there. On the other hand, if Sam and Callen being there simply caught them by surprise, they might have started to plan. What if there's more to that team member Callen mentioned?"

Nell took her tablet and started typing. "We've got Hank Webster, a former Seal. Then the others, what do we know of them?"

"Nigel Sebastian. And two others, Xavier and Ruiz. Don't know if we heard their first names, do you, Deeks?" Kensi's partner simply shook his head.

"Right. Let's see what we can find on them, partner," Nell looked at Eric who already opened Kaleidoscope and Photosynth to find Sebastian and Webster, hoping the other two would pop up so they could compare pictures and let facial recognition systems check them. Nell let her systems go through names that might be connected to Webster and Sebastian, at the same time checking if any security cameras caught some footage of these men.

"All we can do now is watch and wait, am I right, Miss Jones?" Hetty asked.

"Uh-huh," Nell and Eric simultaneously uttered.

It was then when Corey told he and Roberts would return to El Paso. "We'll try what we can find out from there and keep you posted, alright?" They all agreed and it was Granger who showed them out.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**On the road || one hour later**

"How about a man to man fight?" Leah suggested. "There will be only three of them in here. What if they stop for a refuel or even at an airport?"

"They locked the back door, Leah. Besides, they're armed and we are not," Callen said. Her remark surprised him though, only shortly ago he had taken care of a wound that should bother her in any movement and now she was planning a fight. "I think we need to find the right time and place. Just sit back and wait."

"Really!" she sneered. "In that case I might just as well jump out of a driving car. If we wait, they'll take us exactly to where we don't want to be." She shifted just a little, stretching her left leg, pulled up the right knee and put her arms around it. They were both quiet for a while.

Callen rested his head to the partition that separated the driver compartment from theirs and stared to the plain white cabin of the van. Perhaps she was right. With her training, Callen knew she would be better than him when it came to fighting. Besides, he had seen for himself what she was capable of – back in Dieciocho de Marzo she had easily floored both Deeks and Kensi. But no matter what, he knew they should not be reckless and he hoped she understood.

Through her lashes, Leah observed the man who had only introduced himself as Callen. Not too large, but he definitely was in a good shape, sturdy. The five o'clock shadow made him look even stronger in a way. Like her, he was trusting his own notions and she knew they might differ from hers indeed. So far, this whole thing of them being taken prisoners seemed to leave him unaffected, still, she felt something was troubling him more than he would mention. His striking blue eyes showed no dishonesty at all, on the contrary, so far he had been sincere and caring towards her. She sighed deeply.

"Wanna share?" Callen asked, glancing at her.

Leah reddened slightly. Stupid thing to let her thoughts go. She looked up. "We'd better try indeed. I mean… I told you my thoughts about Ruiz and Rubio. You asked me about Santosa and I told you I don't know him. You do, yet you seem to prefer stonewalling."

He had heard that before, even from his partner and best friend. Callen realized he needed to open up, though he had trouble remembering what had happened. "It's all about revenge, I guess. As I said, eight years ago I worked for DEA in El Paso and in Mexico, Durango. For that occasion, I had to work with a partner. We both were undercover and supposed to find out how those cartels move their money, where they keep their assets and, most important, who their leaders are. Santosa popped up and the moment I decided we were to call for back up and make arrests, I found out my partner preferred to be paid by Santosa as well." He let his hands go through his short hair.

"What happened?"

"My partner and Santosa disappeared for some days. Ruiz stayed around all the time."

She kept trying to read his face and now noticed how his pupils contracted, a sign he was angry although the rest of his posture did not show any emotion. Leah frowned. "And you could not escape from him?"

"Not with a bullet in my thigh, Leah." Even after all these years Callen remembered the frustration, the pain and the betrayal all too well.

"Oh crap—still, I don't get it. Why now… How—Who. What I mean, I know Ruiz probably will get paid by the Rubios for taking me in there. But how about you?"

Callen had tried to figure this out all the time. "Really, Leah, there is this missing link I can't seem to find." He liked to see how she cocked her head when she was listening and concentrating at the same time. Meanwhile, she seemed to be unaware that she repeatedly took a strand of hair, twisted it around her fingers and let go of it again.

"Just go on. What happened back then?"

He tried to shake off the feeling he missed something and let his thoughts go back. "I got feverish the second day. I remember Santosa came back, that day or after it, frantic because the money he had disappeared. He was sure I was responsible for it and was desperate to get it back. I still don't know if it was Ruiz Jiminez or my partner". He paused again. "Anyway, to cut a long story short – I got beaten up and was left to die in the desert."

"Yet you didn't."

He sighed deeply. "Just imagine – a group of illegal immigrants decided to pass the border near where I had passed out. They managed to get me on a truck and delivered yours truly at the first infirmary they found. Yes, I survived."

Callen noticed the van had left Los Angeles quite some time ago. From the way heat came in now he estimated the were driving southwest. "What's your idea, Leah, how many miles to go before they'll have to refuel?"

She had been thinking about it too. "We're not traveling pure south. Feels like dry air, so my guess is we're heading for El Centro. We probably already passed Palm Springs. From Los Angeles to El Centro, if that really is the case, they'll be filling up right before we cross the border. Between an hour and a half and an hour, I'd say."

"You still assume it will be Mexico?"

She silently nodded.

"Listen," he said, "there will be a right time for us to get away, I'm sure. My team will be working on it already." Callen grimaced when he imagined how Sam would be grumbling things like he needed to save his ass once more or even accuse him from going lone wolf once again. It would be different this time, perhaps, because deep down he had a bad feeling about this situation.

Her green eyes locked into his. "Don't, Callen. I don't need any rosy predictions. Just be realistic, if we wait, there will be at least twenty guys waiting for revenge. Right now we'll have to deal with only three of them," she argued. "So, talking of the right time, that would be soon if you ask me."

He pondered over her remarks for a while. "How many weeks were you in there, Leah?"

"Thirtyfive. And nearly two in jail."

Eight and a half month keeping a cover going. He raised his brows for only a second. Yes, he had many undercover ops in the past, some of them some days or weeks, sometimes for some months. But there were backups for him in those cases. She had told him she had worked alone. "That's—long. Were you scared?"

She slowly shook her head. "I could handle it. It was a matter of supplying them with disinformation, and misinformation. Things changed when Webster and Ruiz and the others came along and my handlers got confused. Then, there was you and your team and everybody started worrying and distrusting the others. My superiors decided to abort the mission in the end and although I managed to 'go down' with the others I know they know."  
She licked her now dry lips.  
"By now I don't know who is involved and who isn't, Callen." She stretched her legs once more, arched her back and let her head rest, closing her eyes and try to ban the bad feeling she had on what was going on.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects**

One soft bleep came from Eric's system. He looked up. Xavier. It had sounded Spanish indeed. So far. Nell leant over to see what it was that made her partner hold his breath for just a second. "Not good Eric."

He got up and did what he always did: walk out of ops until he got on the platform, then whistled loudly. When he was sure he caught the attention of Deeks and Kensi, who were talking with Granger, he was about to turn around when he noticed the large posture of Sam, seated in the chair opposite of Hetty. Eric smiled as he yelled "Hanna! Upstairs!" Though he caught the worry in Sam's eyes, it was good to see him back at OPS indeed.

* * *

_As you all know, none of the characters in here belong to me. Those who appear on screen at CBS were great finds of Shane Brennan and his writing team. All the others? I just made up names , not based on any existing people!_


	12. Chapter 12

**Mexican Rose ~ 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here' **

**Chapter 12**

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects**

"Hey, big guy, good to have you back in here," Eric welcomed Sam who had joined the others to ops. There was a brief smile which formed a dimple in his left cheek "Hey back at you." The moment Sam noticed everyone was inside, he spoke again, seriously now. "So, what have we got, Eric?"

"Hetty briefed you already?" On Sam's nod, he continued. "Found out this," as he let his finger slide over his tablet and a picture of a dark-haired man whose beard was short and well-trimmed, appeared on the large screen. "The man you might now as Xavier. The systems just identified him as Xaver Nasser."

"I'm getting paranoid. I certainly understand now why those cartel members decided to try beheading. Someone taught them and we've got a winner now – Nasser," Deeks chattered.

Nell took over. "And what's even worse Nasser might have been connected to—hold on, Naseem Vasiri, who, as you all remember, was looking for nuclear weapons."

"And we had nuclear material missing in Mexico," Kensi concluded. "What a mess guys – Empty Quiver indeed."

"Did some more research on those four men. When Kensi, Deeks and I talked with Nigel Sebastian, I remember he told us he worked fór the AVC, the Arms Control, Verification and Compliance of the State Department. He emphasized 'for' just a bit too much. True, Sebastian used to work there but got sacked four years ago. At about the same time Hank Webster left the Seals." Nell quickly resumed why Sebastian got fired "Accused of arms deals and bribery. No evidence found though."

"Did he take us for fools? That guy really must have thought he could play us. Now that is stupid, isn't it?"

Sam took one more look at the pictures of the men they now identified. "There's only one left. Ruiz. He might be the one in the end that Callen told us he remembered from the past. Keep looking, guys."  
He left ops, opened his laptop and went through all the files he could find on it so far.

"You think he's ready for fieldwork? Already?" Kensi nearly whispered.

"Even if he is not, he won't give up until Callen is back in here. Like a true bulldog, Kensi. But finding Callen is, well, like that cobalt 60-stuff, like finding a needle in a haystack. I really would not know where to start."

"How about starting where you ended last time, ladies and gentlemen." Hetty suddenly stood behind them after she had entered ops as ever, in her own Ninja-way. "I think with finding Jorge Rubio, we might find what we are looking for."

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**On the road**

Once again, Callen heard a deep sigh and he realized even more how she would feel by now, simply because he was feeling it too. It was not possible to foresee what would happen, and Callen knew all too well that he himself would rather trust his own way of looking at a situation. So did she. The fact that he indeed could trust his team too to work hard on finding clues and locate him, might differ from her situation though.

"Do you really think that people will come to look for you, Callen?" Leah now asked in a soft voice.

"I know for sure, Leah. There's my team – you've met them, Sam, Kensi and Deeks. They're backed up by our operational manager. Plus a great team at the operation center: a technical operator and intelligence analyst to rely on. And yes, they must miss me by now and will do everything they can to try and track me down."

He wished he could let her share in that confidence, but the way she lowered her head and looked up at him showed only a quick glimpse that she might feel unsure, deep inside.

"Perhaps Noah told somebody I was around…"

He narrowed his eyes "Noah?"

"Noah was with me, in that house," she explained.

Callen remembered the badly wounded man he and Sam had met in the safe house. "Was he the only one who knew you were in there?" He tried to encourage her to tell more.

Leah thought it over. "Well, he knew, of course. And Eric – he asked me to be there, he called to ask if I could help him out, for once, because his sister needed care. Which is weird, now I think about it."

"How's that?" Callen wanted to know.

"Beth is my friend, you know - 'Best-Friends-Forever'," she smiled, nearly shyly now. "She works at a Kindergarten and as far as I know she never skipped a single day before. She knows I am on leave for two weeks and she would have called me if she needed care and let Eric do his job." Leah frowned and paused, now thinking it was odd indeed that Eric asked her to join Noah.  
She then continued "Her brother, Eric, used to work for Bortac too. Nowadays, he and Noah mostly partner up, they work for State Department."

"So, this Eric would know too where you would be?"

"Uh-huh. And I'm pretty sure he'd miss me, since we were supposed to have dinner last night, the four of us, Eric, Beth, Noah and me. But—I don't see how they would try and find me. As I said, I'm on leave."

Then, she straightened her shoulders which caused a short wince, took a deep breath and sent him a quick but sincere smile. "So, I think I should learn to do it, trust others, rely on people I don't know. I might or might not be a quick learner, Callen. It's kinda new to me."

He smirked "You're never too old to learn, Leah. Trust me, I know all about it." Callen noticed the curious spark that appeared in her green eyes, yet he did not feel the urge to explain. "Hey, we can do this together, okay?"

Despite the uncertainty of their situation, she shot him one of the most gorgeous smiles he'd ever seen. "Teamwork it'll be, Callen."

"Teamwork," he agreed. "We're in this together and will get out of it together."

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects**

"A helicopter?" Sam asked.

"That's what Hetty arranged. Nell just told us," Kensi said. "With our own pilot and three more Marines, ready in an hour from now and flying the three of us straight to Tamoulipas. Word goes Rubio is back in the area he and his brother used to be."

Deeks was quiet for a while before he reacted "It's absurd. Who says we'll find that guy in the jungle out there? Why not ask Eric to give him a call and ask him to come over here for a talk? I bet our whiz-kids will find the leader of the pact sooner than we will as we'll be walking around some bloody trillions of trees and asking each person we'll meet if they now the right cabin in which Jorge Rubio, 'you know - Los Zitas', lives. I'll bet that there will be a cartel member behind every single tree, waiting to slaughter some stupid Americanos."

"You're saying there's another way to work our way into this case, Deeks? 'Coz if you do, I would certainly want to know." Sam looked at the detective who was more serious than he used to be.

"No I don't, so let's get going guys. Time to get the lost leader back to his family," Deeks then grinned. He grabbed a go-bag from under his desk and headed to the locker room near the gym where he took some toiletries and another fresh set of clothes that he put in his bag.

"He's mocking me, isn't he, Kensi," Sam whispered.

She shook her head, slowly. "Don't think so, Sam. Our city detective detests the jungle, like he detests the desert. I suppose he's a man of stone," she added in a giggly voice. She then left to do the same as her partner, pack some fresh clothes and put it in her duffle bag.

He looked at his watch, then back at the screen. Before he got the chance to let his thoughts go through this case, knowing he missed the way his partner could assess a file and make sharp, quick and the right conclusions, he sighed deeply.

"You know, Mr. Hanna, I missed the formal notice in which the hospital discharged you." He looked up, only to look the tiny operations manager straight into her omniscient eyes. Sam looked away, then met her gaze once again. "Well, yes. No, I mean—Callen would do the same for me, Hetty."

There was the slightest of an approving smile he noticed on her face. "I am well aware of that, Mr. Hanna. What I want to hear from you, from you alone and which is not to be heard by any of the others, is whether you feel capable of joining this mission and finish what you started?"

He nodded. "I know my condition could be better and I definitely won't outrun any criminals this week, but with my team mates? Yeah, we'll manage."

The loud sound of a chopper that suddenly came from upstairs made them both look up. "There might be a change of plans guys!" Eric said with a loud voice, catching everyone's attention, after he switched the noise off.

Sam smiled at Hetty, got up from his chair and followed the junior agents and Hetty on their way up to ops.

Nell explained, once all were there "This call just came in Hetty, and since we're keeping our regular numbers monitored and could not trace the number immediately, I answered. Eric?"

Eric assisted "Of course we taped." He simply let the others listen.

_"Officer Matthew Roberts speaking. Wanted to let you know our systems received an 'AID' – Agent in Distress-call, which automatically carried a location with it. We're nearly there. Highway 8, exit 87, Yuha Cutoff, CA-98, heading to Calexico. Should be a service station immediately after exit 87." They heard Nell asking "Officer Roberts, can you tell us how many people use such a call on a yearly base?"_

_"We receive calls like this only once or twice a year. They're only to be made when agents are on their own, specifically not when they're together. Listen, this road leads straight toward Mexico. Thinking of what we discussed, it might be our agent Leah Ryker."_

_Nell again: "Thank you. We'll keep in touch."_

The phone call stopped after this.

"Slight change of the route then," Deeks said, optimistically as ever. "Lucky I love surprises."

"How's that, partner?" Kensi asked. "These officers should look for their agent, we need Callen back."

"Gut feeling," Sam answered, "Whoever is responsible for this, will have both their agent, Leah Ryker and Callen. What we need to do is find out why."

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

**Previously || On the road**

Callen had pulled of his jacket as the heat built up in the van. There were no windows in the back compartment and because of the fact that he had no indication on which way the road was curving or going uphill, combined with the very uneasy position, he had started to feel very uncomfortable by now. He knew they needed fresh air and something to drink.  
He noticed Leah was paler by now, quieter too and she leaned back, looking tired and keeping her eyes closed. He didn't know if he should ask once again how she was feeling. Probably the same as him.  
The fact that she was wounded, though not that bad, might worsen her situation, still, she did not show it.

Although she was tough, no whiner and in a very good condition, which Callen liked, she had also not been afraid to show her uncertainties in these hours they were on the road. No stunning beauty, but pretty and all female - slightly tanned, firm but with curves at the right places. Those green eyes of hers were mesmerizing and simply fit with the red hair. Yes, he thought, it was the combination of it all that intrigued him more than he was used to when he met women. In fact, he would like to get to know her better. Then he sighed, feeling that he should ban any thoughts like this. There was simply no time, no place in his life for letting people getting close to him. It would be far too complicating.

There was a sudden sharp turn to the right, and the road got more bumpy afterwards, which disturbed his thoughts.  
"We've left the highway," Callen said.

"A turn to the right, would it mean farther south?" She licked her dry lips and shove back a strand of hair behind her ear.

He nodded "You were right from the beginning. Judging by the time we're in here, I think we've been travelling for about three hours. I reckon it won't take long before we'll reach the border."

"Don't know how about you, but by now I feel foggy and unbalanced," Leah said. "Probably dehydration. Last time I had something to drink it was… a cup of coffee with Noah, right before—well, in the afternoon."

Callen made another note to himself. She definitely was not the person who would confront him with anything disputable and mention 'said-so's.' Right now, she simply avoided any comments about Mexico.

Then, without any warning, the car took another sharp turn and came to a stop.

"y'Think this will be a chance to get away?" she whispered.

He shrugged "Let's wait and see, just be prepared."

"I am." He noticed her green eyes narrowed for only some seconds, then she hit on the compartment wall and yelled "Hey there, I need to pee!"

"Really!" he said in a low voice as he raised his brow.

"Really," she replied, grinning. "Let's see if it works." Again, she hit her flat hand on the car's steel sidewall. "Hey!"

They heard how both car's doors were unlocked and opened, then footsteps came around the car and with the opening of the backdoor, direct sunlight entered their compartment and Ruiz Jiminez stood in front of them. With a nod of his head, he simply motioned to Leah.  
"You, out! But I warn you, no stupid things. My friends will stay with your partner."

"Alright," she agreed as she exited the car and joined him. Like they'd thought, it was a service station. "Do you think we could get some water?" Leah asked Ruiz.  
A sardonic grin appeared on his face as he turned toward her. "Jorge wants you in a good shape, Ryker. So, yes, spending half a dollar and getting back twenty thousand sounds alright by me."  
She decided to ignore his remark. "I need to go to the lady's. You can't join."

He seemed to mull over this and decided she might be right. "No tricks. Remember what I told you about my buddies and your fellow traveler."

She looked down and replied "I get it."

Ruiz Jiminez took a relaxed lean against the wall, showing he'd know where to find her if necessary.

Like she'd hoped, there was another woman waiting for her turn. Leah took a close look at the woman's purse. "Excuse me, madam, I have a slight problem. Could I use that?" as she pointed to the cell phone she saw. There was an uncomprehending glance, then a short nod as she handed the phone. Leah looked at the display and simply pressed the buttons she had learned by heart, smiled and returned it. "Thank you. One of the female troubles I should have been prepared for," she said, loud and clear."

Minutes later, they were all back and driving. Callen handed the small bottle of water back at Leah. "You're okay?" he asked, as she was quieter than before.

"Hmh. I was right, Callen. They're taking us to Rubio. Ruiz told me so."

"There's more, isn't there?" He could read it in her eyes – hope.

"Yes," she answered. "I managed to send a warning code to my superiors. They'll know by now I'm in trouble and have received the GPS from that spot on." She looked up. "I do hope they'll find us before we've arrived at Los Zitas."

* * *

_Thank you for reading. As ever, your remarks, reviews and other thoughts are very welcome!_


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